For the past few months, student entrepreneur Pranavnath G has been working round the clock with his college-going younger brother, Kishen G. Together, they launched Flying Cobbler which makes cobbler services possible at the customer’s doorstep.
“Of late we see very few cobblers mending old footwear by the roadside. Most of us who possess branded, quality leather shoes are left with no service when it comes to refurbishing or repair. If repair services are offered, they cost almost as much as buying a new pair would,” says Pranavnath, who is pursuing his final year MBA at VIT B-School.
Pranavnath first began working on this project — particularly the business model — for the international youth festival, conducted by the Urban Development Ministry at his college campus in 2017.
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“I bagged the second prize and received the award from Kiran Bedi. This motivated me to further study the market and analyse the prospects, and finally launch Flying Cobbler two months ago,” he says.
He began by distributing flyers door-to-door in some parts of ECR. “Customers started giving us gunny bags full of footwear of the entire family to be repaired,” he recounts, and that was all his business needed to really take off.
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“We specialise in branded leather shoes and ladies sandals. As a value addition, we also take up repair of artificial leather, anti-fungal treatment and polishing,” says Pranavnath. Dealing with leather is nothing new to this young entrepreneur, whose dad Guha Shankar B is a finished leather goods exporter.
Flying Cobbler has set up its unit in Alandur, where the collection boys bring in the footwear detailed notes for each pair. “The notes is handed over to the senior supervisor, Venkatesh, who is also the expert shoemaker/cobbler, and based on that he will work. I have also roped in a few cobblers who were working on the roadside to join the team, and they now get paid a monthly salary. They undergo training under Venkatesh,” he says.
Flying Cobbler works on all days of the week. To schedule your pick up, call 9500145832.