CHENNAI: If you love leather shoes, you’re in for a treat! With full dedication to get high quality leather, VAPH, a shoe brand offers a fun line of leather footwear for women and girls.
“We strive to provide you with genuine, 100 per cent fine quality leather, as 70 to 80 per cent of leather shoes online are fake,” says director Harish Nekkanti.
Nekkanti has graduate degrees from Purdue University (USA), and University of Monash (Australia). After his graduation, he home to Chennai, with a keen interest in business. Being the third generation of a family specialising in all things leather, it wasn’t hard for him to source the best locations for the best quality.
“We get leather from all over the world. It depends on what kind of product we are sourcing it for. For example, if we are in need of metallic leather, we get it from Italy as it is found best there. Similarly, we get different types of leather in places like Thailand, Italy and some from India too,” he says.
VAPH manufactures a variety of loafers, sandals, moccasins, lace-ups, clean-cut slippers, oxfords and boots. Each one of them is tested for comfort. Adds Nekkanti, “We emphasise a lot on comfort, as most of them are used for daily wear. We do a lot of tests and see how it fits and works for different people. It may be narrow on some feet or there may be too much pressure around the toes. Based on test-results, we make corrections.”
Nekkanti insists his products are of the same quality you’d find in Europe. “If a product has even the tiniest of problem, Europeans reject it. We have a dedicated team that strives for perfection. We promise our customers that our shoes will last long if they’re well taken care of. If you drench your shoe completely in the rain, then it will be a problem.”
Along with four in-house designers, VAPH is also working with some freelancers abroad. They aim to introduce European styling into the Indian market. VAPH is also working on a selective line for men which will also be launched in a month’s time.
“Eighty per cent of our footwear is priced between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,000. They are right now available through online portals like Flipkart, Jabong, Amazon and Hopscotch. But we will soon launch our own website; you’ll be able to shop for our footwear directly from the site. The next collection is set to hit the market next month,” he says.
Visit www.vaph.in to know more about their footwear and pricing.