Sohil Dhruv, the founder hails from a middle class family, where it was important to get a degree and take up a corporate secure job. He was always fascinated by shoes displayed in brands. Though they were not so pocket friendly he always aspired to get one for himself.
Being a shoe enthusiast, he always discovered a significant gap in the segment: footwear is either stylish or comfortable or costly. So he was determined to fulfill this void and crafted a footwear that was stylish, comfortable, pocket friendly but also sustainable and high quality. He did his research, created a strategy, and went to work and brought KOZI to life, a sustainable shoe brand that fits every individual’s need.
KOZI was started in a small rented space with 2 employees and no knowledge of the industry with only 10,000 as an initial investment. In a candid conversation the founder mentioned, the first few pairs were a complete disaster and looking back at it, they feel they have come a long way.This progress required a lot of patience and perseverance.
It all begins with the idea, product or service and filling an existent gap for a start-up. So they conducted thorough market research to understand the market needs and where their idea would fit. Their next step was to create a high-quality product and then a meticulous marketing strategy that would highlight their USP and showcase the need of their product to the customer.
Kozi has sold more than 20000 pairs of shoes in the past 3 years. The vision is to become a national brand and gradually create a global presence where every individual wears a KOZI shoe once in their lifetime. The Brand has now started to hire unemployed people and teach them this craft and generate employment across India.
KOZI offers a high range of wedding collection which is crafted with animal cruelty free materials. The traditional touch with innovation, technology and sustainability helps them challenge the status quo in the market. Each pair is Handcrafted by keeping all the needs and the perfect fit for the customer in mind.
The company’s distribution strategy is business-to-business (B2B) and direct-to- customer (D2C). Though in times to come, they may look at an Omni channel presence. The company is in its initial years and it aims to keep getting newer, innovative, sustainable and animal cruelty free products for a better planet.
Sohil Bestows the success of the company to his parents and his younger brother as they have always been a great support even during the tough times and also in the early days he couldn’t financially contribute to his family.
The company believes that the footwear segment in India is ever-evolving. With no scarcity of brands, people are spoiled for choices. However, in this scenario, the company differs by being a player that is not a fast trend company but a value-driven entity. As far as competition is concerned, the company believes that players will keep coming, but their differentiator will always be to bring India a unique fabric that is sustainable, comfortable, and trendy.
The pandemic has caused upheaval with almost all businesses. However, rather than worrying about it, they used their time in enhancing their customer experience. They made their existing products better, improved their internal processes, delivery mechanisms, and prepared for the future by focusing on product development.