Nitin Konde
17 March, 2016, Bangalore: India’s ace tennis player, Mahesh Bhupathi has teamed with Hemchandra Javeri, former Nike country manager (South Asia) to develop an Indian sports brand called ‘Zeven’ which is more conducive to tackle country’s weather. Bhuptahi and Javeri have put in their personal experiences to design and conceptualise products which can add extra cushion to Indian sports person.
“About three-and-a-half years ago, I started speaking with Hemu (the other founder) on a home-grown sports brand, and soon one thing led to another,” said Bhupathi, director of Zeven. Company’s team has worked very closely in designing its each and every product. It concentrated on rectifying and solving even a tiny toed issue faced by the sportsman while wearing the product.
Recently, Zeven has developed three types of shoes for cricketers. These footwears are designed after an in-depth research of three years conducted by Zeven’s team. Shoes cover the three individuals of the game bawler, batsman and all-rounder.
“We went to different fields in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, and understood how Indian ground conditions are different. The batsmen shoes have a slightly tighter grip on the in-step so as to have a snug fit, the all-rounder’s shoe is more ventilated. For the bowlers shoes, we have given more support to the ankle, as it is the most injury-prone part for the bowler,” said Ravi Shekhar, head (footwear), Zeven.
The other pain point that Zeven aims to tackle is cost. Zeven’s stress on ‘affordability’ is to make sure that every Indian plays sports. “The primary angle is ‘Made for India at an affordable price’. If look at the bigger vision, it is about making Indians play sports. We want people to be in a community of sportsmen,” said Javeri, Zeven’s chairman. The company presently offers footwear, apparel and accessories across six sport categories: cricket, football, tennis, run, walk and gym, reports ET.