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Santosh Kocherlakota, Nakul Lathkar and Vidyadhar Bhandare (from left to right).
Why are three friends, who completed post-graduation in transportation and automobile design at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, making shoes for farmers? “Well, the first mode of transportation was the foot,” says Santosh Kocherlakota with a laugh.
“Most students of automobile design aspire to work at Ferrari or Lamborghini. But at NID we were also exposed to the Indian milieu and the importance of need-based design. We had worked together to make an affordable electric wheelchair ‘Ibex’ that became very popular. We realised the power of design and wanted to use it as a tool to bring about social change,” he explains.
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Santosh, Nakul Lathkar and Vidyadhar Bhandare are co-founders of Earthen Tunes Design Pvt Ltd, a Hyderabad-based social enterprise. It designs and sells sustainable shoes made from indigenous wool sourced responsibly from local pastoral communities.
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Making it affordable
The footwear is made accessible and affordable for farmers through cross-subsidisation by a costlier range for the urban consumer.
“The price of the farmer’s shoe is between Rs 100 and Rs 900 depending on the funding support we get. Our urban range of footwear is priced at between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 which partly cross-subsidises the farmer’s shoe range. There is no profit in making the farmer’s shoe,” says Santosh.
Around 8,000 farmers have used Earthen Tunes’ ‘Yaar’ brand of farmer’s shoes so far. Around 10 percent of them are women. By using indigenous wool, Earthen Tunes is providing employment and consistent income to the pastoral weaver communities. It has provided 15,000 man-hours of employment and Rs 15 lakhs in income to 20 weaving clusters in Himachal Pradesh and the Deccan.
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Earthen Tunes was incubated at the IIT Madras Research Park. The trio incorporated the firm in 2019 after the incubation was approved, and they were convinced they had a robust product. Production of shoes started in 2022 and the venture clocked revenues of Rs 65 lakh in 2023-24.
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Earthen Tunes has been recognised in the design field and startup ecosystem as well. The venture was a finalist at the Lexus Design Award India in 2020 in the social innovation category.
How it all began
While Santosh comes from an urban background, the other two co-founders come from a farming background. “After retirement, my father took up farming and is using Yaar shoes,” says Vidyadhar with a smile. Nakul has relatives who are into farming.
In 2018, farmer suicides were very much in the news. The trio, all in their 30s, wanted to do something to help farmers through design intervention. They spent six months in Nakul and Vidyadhar’s native villages in Maharashtra understanding the problems faced by farmers. They immersed themselves in farming activities.
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The trio identified several problems faced by farmers and decided to work on designing suitable footwear first.
Many farmers walk barefoot in the fields and are vulnerable to injuries, infections and snake bites. This is not just a health issue; it reduces work hours, productivity and income.
“The second phase of our research was finding a suitable material. It took us another six months to find the right material to make the shoe. We bought all the different kinds of footwear being used in the villages and realised what was lacking in each. Instead of leather or plastic, we experimented with 15 natural fibres,” says Santosh.
Magic blanket
One day, someone told them about a ‘magic blanket’ made in the Ghadchiroli district in Maharashtra which did not allow rainwater to go through. They procured a blanket. Nakul put the blanket on his head and poured water on himself. The water did not touch him! This blew their minds.
"These blankets called ‘kamblis’ or ‘ghongadis’ are hand-woven by pastoral communities like the Kurubas. The blankets are known to last for 20 years. The craft is 1,500 years old and is dying. We wanted to help keep it alive,” says Santosh.
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In the blankets, the three friends found a suitable material to make shoes that were water-resistant, long-lasting and eco-friendly. They work with the pastoral communities in three regions - Deccan, Himachal Pradesh and Kutch. While the urban shoe is made of Himachal wool, the farmer’s shoe is made of Deccan wool.
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Most of the blankets are made in Karnataka and each takes around four days to weave. The application of tamarind kernel paste during the weaving process enhances the water-resistant quality of these blankets.
Wool is a renewable and biodegradable resource. ‘Desi’ wool offers many advantages such as enhanced breathability, better temperature regulation and superior strength. Wool fibres are naturally elastic making them suitable to make shoes. Also, wool has natural antimicrobial properties that reduce the growth of odour-causing bacteria.
The entire research process took 18 months and the third phase another six months. This involved getting the footwear made. That was a challenge.
“Tailors did not want to make footwear as there were caste connotations involved. The three of us learnt to make shoes. We bought a sewing machine. Vidyadhar became an expert in stitching and Nakul in knitting," says Santosh.
"We made 120 prototypes. We found a factory owner in Agra who aligned with our mindset. He was willing to experiment and work with the new material,” he adds.
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Special shoes
“What’s special about our footwear is that it is resilient to the three elements of sunlight, mud and water which farmers are exposed to all the time. Other types of footwear get damaged in these conditions. The shoes are water-resistant but not waterproof. In the rainy season, while walking in puddles in fields water may enter the shoe but it will also go out. This is critical as if water remains in the shoe it will lead to fungal infections,” explains Vidyadhar.
Yaar shoes are also long-lasting, and sock-free as they are made of fabric and odourless.
"The footwear has been tested and validated at Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai. Our all-season footwear is functional and practical. The shoes, made of wool and polyurethane (PU), are wider and roomier in the toe area which is ideal for the Indian foot,” he adds. The team continuously gathers feedback from farmers to refine their products.
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The range meant for urban consumers is versatile and suitable for work, trekking, use in a gym, travel and even as party wear, says Santosh. The shoes have a cushioned sole, are anti-slip and are dyed using skin-friendly natural dyes.
Eco-friendly venture
“Research has shown that pastoralism (rearing domesticated animals that are allowed to graze on pastures or grasslands/vegetated areas) can reverse climate change. Pastoralism preserves biodiversity and helps reverse desertification. In India, we see pastoralism in arid and semi-arid areas. The grazing lands are huge carbon sinks,” explains Santosh.
Grazing lands remove the equivalent of around 20 percent of the carbon dioxide released annually into the earth’s atmosphere due to global deforestation and land-use changes.
The ancient blanket weaving craft is carbon-negative without any greenhouse gas emissions.
All the processes – shearing, carding (preparing wool fibre for spinning), spinning and weaving are manual. The yarn is hand-woven on pit looms made by the community from locally sourced wood.
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The average footwear durability in rural areas is three months. The damaged shoes are waste that ends up in rivers and landfills. By designing durable footwear, this solid waste is reduced.
Reaching the right person
Earlier, Earthen Tunes would sell both farmer shoes and urban shoes on the website. However, non-farmers and urban people were buying the subsidized farmer shoes. So, now they only do bulk orders for farmer shoes through CSR channels or FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations). They are collaborating with FPOs like Vikasa and CSA (Centre for Sustainable Agriculture). For CSR, they are partnering with companies - ITC and Wells Fargo.
Earthen Tunes, along with partner organisations, identifies beneficiaries from villages across the states. The farmers are involved in the cultivation of millet, coffee, honey, chilly, cotton and paddy. The beneficiaries include rural women and farmers from tribal communities.
“We are very particular that our farmer’s shoes reach only farmers. We don’t want to dilute our objective. We recently donated to tribal farmers in the Araku region in Andhra Pradesh and cotton and paddy farmers in interior Telangana. We charged Rs 100 and passed that amount to the FPO involved towards transport charges,” says Santosh.
Roadmap ahead
“Ideally, we want to make the product and sell it locally. That is our preferred business model. We had a very successful workshop with rural women in interior Karnataka recently where the participants made shoes. We are experimenting with raw wool knitted by rural women. We also plan on eco-friendly packaging – replacing thermocol with wool,” he says.
The three friends have been researching for more than two years to develop snake bite-resistant footwear. They have consulted with a snake park in Chennai to study the anatomy of a fang. They are not thinking of rubber and leather, as it will be too heavy and inflexible for farm use. They are working on a light, breathable model.
Earthen Tunes has just set up its second experience centre (after Hyderabad) at IIT Madras research park. The centre offers a unique experience for visitors to touch and feel authentic Indian woollen blankets, from which the shoes are made, and better understand the journey of the company.
Interestingly, the company is creating a traceability application for the shoes. Soon, QR codes will reveal the names of shepherds, spinners, weavers, shoe-makers and others involved in the production of the shoes!
(Aruna Raghuram is a freelance journalist based in Ahmedabad. She writes on women’s issues, environment, DEI issues, and social/development enterprises.)
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