CHENNAI: To encourage and nurture budding Indian athletes, the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) is leading a national initiative to design and develop high-performance indigenous ‘affordable’ sports shoes that cater to the needs of domestic talent.
The idea was sowed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 70th foundation day ceremony of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) last year. Now, the project has officially taken off with the CLRI preparing a roadmap while roping in other research institutes and industry partners. An MoU is likely to be signed with the Centre for Sports Science (CSS) in Sri Ramachandra University (SRU) to utilise scientific research and analysis.
CLRI director B Chandrasekaran told Express that developing affordable footwear has been accorded top priority. Top brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma, with a base price of Rs 6,000, are out of bounds for many young sportsmen from poor backgrounds.
“Good sports shoes are a basic requirement. They are used not only to heighten performance but to protect the feet. There is no local manufacturer who produces performance shoes, so the Union Ministry of Science and Technology and Union Ministry of Earth Sciences have entrusted the responsibility to us. We plan to produce a sports shoe, which costs about Rs 1,000,” he said.
Chandrasekaran said the CLRI has the know-how in material science and gait analysis. “The Union government is planning to set up nine industrial complexes. One such complex can be dedicated to the manufacture of indigenously developed sports shoes. There is a huge market for sports like cricket, hockey, kabaddi and football. Domestic leagues are encouraging more to take up sport as a profession. We have a full-fledged material testing laboratory, dedicated polymer group, shoe design centre and miniature production facility,” he said.
The National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and Footwear Design and Development Institute have been roped in for finalising designs, while the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune and Advanced Material and Process Research Institute in Bhopal are bringing in their expertise in the selection of materials. Inter-ministerial efforts are also on to fast-track the project. “We are also in touch with non-leather manufacturers from New Delhi, Kolkata and Kerala, which is a huge source of natural rubber.”
Sadiq Mohammed, chief scientist, Shoe and Product Design Centre, CLRI, said brands like Bata and Liberty came out with the casual sports shoes which were not athletic in nature. “With Sri Ramachandra Centre for Sports Science, we will be carrying out a joint anthropometric study, which will give us authentic data. We have also written to a brand called Kangaroo through the Federation of German Footwear Industry for joint R&D.”
Dr KA Thiagarajan, in-charge, Centre for Sports Science, SRU, said that the sports shoe industry is like Pepsi and Coca-Cola as 90% of the product’s cost goes into marketing.
Three components
Key to design