Sometimes, the most mundane tasks reel in the most excitement and, sometimes, the best ideas blossom from out of the simplest conversations. The same occurred with Devarsh Parab and Akash Mayekar, founders of The Shoe Basket, a professional footwear and bag dry cleaning service in Goa.
As childhood friends, the dream was to grow up and do something unique. “We always wanted to be entrepreneurs and toyed with the idea of starting something of our own, but somehow the ideas did not materialise,” says 25-year-old Akash from Bicholim.
It was only in December 2022 that the tide brought in not only the annual Sunburn Festival but a brilliant idea of starting up something as unique as The Shoe Basket.
“The whole idea of starting a business like this came from the Sunburn Festival. The area where Sunburn takes place is very dusty and always leaves dirty shoes behind,” explains Devarsh, who jokingly adds that apart from looking forward to dancing to the tunes of their favourite DJs at Sunburn, the duo would often spend a couple of minutes mentally preparing themselves for the fact that they would have to clean their shoes once the festival ended.
Akash chimes in, “Every year, after Sunburn it would get very difficult and time consuming to maintain our shoes and get them back to their original form.” And as people, guilty of roaming the streets in brown shoes that were once white – we couldn’t agree more!
“So one day while we were casually talking, we thought of creating a solution for this common festival problem,” they share.
And soon, they decided to take the leap. “Along with our passion for entrepreneurship and our savings that we managed to pull in, we started our footwear care business,” they say.
They began their services out of home in Bicholim with the initial plan being to focus solely on shoe care, but soon they added to it. “We expanded to other services, which include dry cleaning of bags, purses, caps, soft toys, helmets and riding gear as well, but soon we realised that only cleaning will not enhance the look of the footwear so we started restoration services, which included repainting and redyeing high quality leather and rexine,” they explain.
After working out of home it comes as no surprise that one core memory that the duo holds close to their heart is finally opening their first pick-up and drop-off outlet at Porvorim.
“Life is hard as it is, and we like to make the process as seamless and convenient as possible by providing free pick-up and drop-off services and great service to live up to our customers’ expectations and make them smile,” says Akash, who is grateful to the customers that patronise their business and help it grow.
The basic dry cleaning services start at Rs 199, and if you ask for the customers favourite, the premium dry cleaning service takes the top spot. Apart from this, they also provide free pick-up and drop-off services across Goa.
For them, The Shoe Basket is more than just a business. It is a testament to the power of friendship and innovation.
Their future plans include opening another outlet in Panjim and hopes of setting up businesses all over India as well as outside the country.
Like Francis Bacon said, “We rise to great heights by a winding staircase of small steps,” And, The Shoe Basket that just celebrated its first anniversary on April 21, 2024 is already on that staircase.
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