Range of designer sneakers from Sreeleathers on display. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, June 25: Come January, Sreeleathers can be the ideal destination for a pair of sneakers too!

A brainchild of late Suresh Chandra Dey, the city-based company, with an approximate annual turnover of Rs 80cr, is all set to make a foray in sport footwear segment.

Having finalised talks with a China-based company to compete with leading brands like Nike and Reebok, Sreeleathers would import the upper part and soles for its range of sportswear from them with the pasting part to be done in Delhi. “We wanted to bring down the stylishly-designed products within the reach of the middle-class,” said Sushanto Dey, the managing director.

Designed in a range of seven trendy pieces for men and two for the fairer sex, the company plans to market their products from all 30 outlets across the country.

Significantly, Sreeleathers is on a major expansion spree with the company going down south to sell their products. Talks are on to finalise either Hyderabad or Chennai for an exclusive showroom of quality leather products.

Sreeleathers has been successful in catering to a cross-section of people with a varied range of products since 1952 when they started operations in the city. “On an average, we target to sell 3,000 pairs of shoes through all our outlets each day,” said Dey, adding that the price tag for their new range of sports footwear would start from Rs 750 and go up to maximum of Rs 1,000.

Considered ideal for running, jogging and tennis, the footwear would be made of a combination of mesh and polyutherine for them to compete with the best in business in terms of flexibility and grip respectively.

“Polyutherine gives to the products an advantage over the rest, as the material does not crack even in extreme conditions,” he said.

The company is eyeing a January all-India launch for their product with the initial round of market research being done from October this year.

Sreeleathers plans to start with their initial market research in the city itself with the distribution of products among their acquaintances to ensure that all complaints are taken care of by their R&D department before the formal launch of their exclusive range.

To be made available to customers in a wide range of colours, be it the attractive combination of black and red, blue and white and bright colours with combination of white, the toe caps would be made of Action leather while the soles would have a Phylon finish.