Every parent knows the pain of shopping for new shoes every few months for their children. Podiatrists note that kids up to three years of age often grow out of three-four sizes every year.
"They start by wearing oversized shoes which they grow into. These are replaced only when they become too tight to wear," points out Krutika Lal, co-founder of child-focused footwear brand, Aretto.
It was her school friend Satyajit Mittal, a product designer, who alerted her to the fact after learning about parents struggling to get shoes that fit their offspring.
"One in three kids wear the wrong shoe size at any point. I remember wearing my elder brother's hand-me-down shoes throughout my pre-teens and adolescence. Having identified our first issue -- feet grow, shoes don't -- we allocated our bootstrapped resources to unlocking the problem and developing a patented technology that enables shoes to grow along with their owners," says 31-year-old Mittal.
Lal and Mittal decided to combine their expertise in digital marketing and product designing, respectively, and co-founded Aretto.
After two years of research and trials, they launched a pair of shoes that "grows along with the child" in September 2022. The brand got a utility patent for their sole technology from the government in January. The game-changing mechanics is a combination of Supergrooves, InfiKnit and Squishy Foam that enable the footwear to expand to three sizes.
"Supergrooves are sensitive to a millimetre of a child’s growing feet. Squishy Foam is a version of memory foam for comfort. And InfiKnit is a knit fabric that can stretch in different directions. The breathable material has 360° flexibility and will comfortably accommodate growing feet. Together, these ensure that the sole and the uppers expand without any intervention," says 29-year-old Lal.
Since September, the company, which only markets the products via its website, has sold more than 5,000 shoes.
The podiatrist-approved shoes score high on the fashion quotient too.
Their little owners love the bright reds, blues and oranges on their feet. While conventional children’s shoes are shrunk-down versions of adult shoes, with little thought given to comfort, the patented footwear doesn't need the toe-gap allowance which often leads to an unnatural fit and gait in children.
"The industry must approach kids' footwear with a fresh and more disruptive intent rather than treating the shoes as a replication of the adult market. We aim to be a billion-dollar company in the years to come," hopes Mittal.
The brand is rolling out expansion plans in the UAE, Singapore and Japan.
If feet grow fast, so can a shoe business.