When the team from FILA met Anand Ahuja, co-founder of VegNonVeg, almost two years ago, they were sure they wanted to do something together. His was a curated sneaker store that was just finding its footing in Delhi’s Meherchand Market, while the brand was looking at a relaunch, to establish a distinct India connect.
The result was a collaboration on one of FILA’s iconic shoes, the Mindblower (originally designed in 1995), with a chunky dad silhouette that’s having a moment. “It was about incorporating a retro shoe with Indian culture,” says Abdon Lepcha, the creative director at FILA, India. They threw a few ideas around the table at their brainstorming sessions: street food, Holi, for instance. “We felt they were all too general,” he says. So they settled on the masala box, with its distinct identity and the ability to transpose elements on to the shoe.
The right blend
Without resorting to kitsch, and using the shoe as a white canvas, it was a matter of filling in colour and texture. The teams chose chilli-powder red and turmeric yellow, with fine-haired suede and textured leather. “We didn’t want to go sophisticated and shiny; we wanted to give it an earthy feel,” says Lepcha, whose “comfortable, fashionable, everyday shoe” is the Mindblower. It is meant to give you the tactile feeling of sprinkling masala over a dish, of instinctively knowing how much to put just by the feel of it. There’s a touch of silver in the lacing panel, indicating steel spice boxes, and the strong soles of this lifestyle pair are ‘peppered’ with black.
At the Delhi launch, which also coincided with VNV’s Safdarjung Enclave store launch, Ahuja talks about how it has been a learning process, this being their first collab (FILA has worked with NorBlack NorWhite and Rannvijay Singh). “There are things that we can do better; like we didn’t take a trip to the factory, which we should have. Seeing the materials would have given us a better perspective,” he says. He has also realised the process takes time, so “we need to plan maybe a year or more ahead”.
Origins matter
It is also one of the few unisex shoes in the market, sizes 3 to 11, considering there’s a difference in men’s and women’s shoe construction and fit. And while both FILA and VNV reference street culture, Ahuja says it is still being defined: “We’re facilitating it by providing a space where people can get together — it’s a collective process.” Both brands are headed in the same direction: to ensure that India tells its own story, without mimicking cultures abroad, whether in terms of basketball or skateboarding.
Ahuja acknowledges sneaker culture in the country springs from style, rather than sport. “This is the foundation of what’s going to come to India. Music plays an important role, as do influences from all over the world. We also have a huge heritage of music where we see the revival of traditional instruments and the growth of electronics, jazz, blues,” concludes Lepcha.
100 pairs, priced at ₹9,999, will be available at VegNonVeg
