JK steps into footwear

JK Tyre & Industries is planning to enter footwear and accessories space by manufacturing products

from used tyres. It plans to do this in association with the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI). The business proposition is by way of utilizing what is a hazardous waste and making it viable. The initiative has been called ‘Soles with Souls’. The company will retail both office wear and casual sandals, along with accessories such as belts and bags. Students from FDDI are being trained by the company on the use of rubber to create such products. According to the vice-chairman and managing director, JK Tyre and Industries, Raghupati Singhania the company wants to get into lifestyle products and such an initiative could become a business proposition for the tyre industry in India. Singhania opines it is their way of showing respect to the earth we inhabit as the impact of discarded tyres is hazardous. Soles with Souls will open up a new front towards environmental consciousness and will inspire responsiveness to emerging socio-environment needs.

The company is open to exploring ways to commercialize this venture. About 88 million tyres, part of 33 million vehicles, were added to roads in the last three years in India. These include two, three, four and six wheelers, creating an enormous potential for reuse of rubber in the country. Around 11 million tyres are scrapped every year. The group that has been on a diversification drive is also setting up a 1,360 megawatt power plant near Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. The group’s Chennai plant would be ready by the end of this year. The plant will have an initial capacity of 25 lakh passenger car tyres and four lakh truck and bus radial tyres annually.