Hyderabad
It’s the age when just about everyone talks of recycling, more so about recycling plastic. While one has heard of T-shirts, pet bottles, and made out of recycled plastic, one has probably not heard of recycled plastic shoes. Well, that’s exactly what city-based first-generation entrepreneurs Taran Chabbra and Amar Preet are doing through their company called Neeman’s.
They have just raised a Series A round of funding of Rs 20 crore from Sixth Sense Ventures. Branded ReLive Knits, the company collects discarded plastic bottles, recycles them, and washes them before they are shredded into small flakes. The flakes are then melted, cooled, and pressed through a die, forming long strands of yarn that are refined and spun through a 3D knitting machine. This process makes for the upper part of the shoe.
Once the upper part of the shoe is ready, then natural materials such as castor bean oil, recycled rubber, and waste papers are used to make the inside sole. This gives the required cushioning inside the shoe and also makes the shoe odor-resistant and sweat-resistant.
Neeman’s sources are from companies that turn plastic waste into yarn, some of which are international companies, and then the assembly happens in Hyderabad, and the major part of the manufacturing happens through third parties.
The unisex ReLive Knits sneakers and slip-on are available in 7 and 5 colors and are priced at Rs 3299. If one wants to buy them, they are available on Neeman’s website www.neemans.com and on other e-commerce platforms.
Neeman’s also has a good range of sustainable flip flops, slides, recycled cotton sneakers, and their flagship product, shoes made from Merino Wool.