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If the shoe fits, wear it. But if it doesn’t, don’t squeeze into it. And that’s what the founder of Gully Labs, Arjun Singh, did when he realised that Indians were walking in one-size-fits-all designs borrowed from the West in the name of sneakers.

For Singh, a sneakerhead himself, this observation was hard to ignore. Therefore, he decided to give Indians their own sneaker brand — one that is not only on par with global labels but also rooted in the culture.

“Until 2023, there was no brand that felt culturally Indian yet globally aspirational,” Singh said, adding that the absence of this fusion became the driving force behind Gully Labs.

Founded in August 2023, Gully Labs is a Delhi NCR-based startup that sells sneakers inspired by Indian motifs. Backed by the likes of Zeropearl VC, Saama Capital, and Atrium Ventures, the sneaker brand currently has 50 SKUs.

What’s, however, more interesting about Gully Labs is the journey of its founder, for whom entrepreneurship was never part of the plan. Yet, he ended up becoming a founder twice before the launch of Gully Labs.

Growing up in a middle-class household, the rule for Singh was pretty simple — education first, then a stable job. So, after completing his engineering, he joined JP Morgan. He later moved to Sydney, Australia.

While the corporate life was all rainbows and sunshine for the first few years, the excitement started to wear off by the sixth year. He, however, would find his solace in speaking with global startup founders and CEOs about their journey, mindset and vision. Their stories gave him the thrill that his corporate job lacked.

“Starting a business started to feel more and more intellectually stimulating than anything corporate life could offer,” Singh said.

He finally called it quits in mid-2020 to join Antler’s founder-venture programme that helps entrepreneurs find cofounders, funding, and strategic direction.

At Antler, he, along with two other fellow members, started a community buying platform, m8buy. A year later, he shut down the company, as it failed to gain traction. Later, he started a voice-based dating app, Slow Dating, but soon realised that the space was not for him.

In 2023, Singh decided to take a break before taking up a role at US-based startup accelerator On Deck. He decided to return to India to spend time with his parents.

Little did he know that things were set to take a sharp turn for him. While in India, Singh noticed a fast-maturing sneaker culture, similar to that in Australia. As a sneakerhead, he was quick to catch that while there was a growing demand in the Indian market for sneakers, the country lacked fresh, original designs.

An epiphany dawned upon him. “There is enough whitespace for building a ‘desi’ sneaker brand,” he thought. But, he never envisioned that it was going to be him building one.

Around this time, Singh had a US visa interview scheduled, which coincidentally got postponed. The next date was after three months, giving Singh enough time to think about his idea.

Another coincidence was that he met a college junior, Animesh Mishra, working at Bain in the US. In a warm conversation, Singh opened up about his idea and what he believed was missing in the Indian market.

As it turns out, Mishra was a bigger sneakerhead than him and had similar thoughts about the Indian sneaker market. It was a match made in heaven. While Singh found a cofounder, Mishra found his passion.

Mishra quit his job in the US and joined Singh as a cofounder to launch Gully Labs in 2023.

Laying The Groundwork

From the very outset, Singh and Mishra were clear that Gully Labs would not be a ‘compromise brand’ offering Western designs at a lower price. “We wanted to make something original,” Singh said.

Instead of rushing into production, the founders spent nearly six months building a community on social media. Along with an intern, they wrote about why India needed its own desi sneaker brand and actively solicited feedback on what consumers wanted to wear. This content-first strategy helped shape both product direction and early brand loyalty.

It was then time to fetch some early traction. Before the official launch, the founders gave early-bird access to several customers, offering a sneaker worth INR 6,000 at as low as INR 1,000.

The brand received over 50 prepaid orders. To fulfil them, the founders partnered with a local shoemaker who hand-stitched these first pairs in a basement workshop.

When the shoes were officially launched in August 2023, reality set in. Monthly sales just hovered at 10-20 pairs for the first couple of months. The founders prioritised product quality and consistency over revenue and fundraising.

“In our mind, the only thing that mattered was that the brand needed to exist,” Singh said, adding that their skin was too deep in the game.

The turning point came in December 2023, when a fashion influencer featured Gully Labs’ sneakers in a viral Instagram reel.

The post sparked widespread discussion about the brand’s distinctive design, driving a surge in website traffic and orders. The entire inventory of 200-250 pairs got sold out within two days.

The moment validated the founders’ core theses: “there was real demand for a differentiated, Indian designed sneaker brand”.

The demand for their sneakers kept rising, and to meet it, Singh and Mishra raised INR 1.2 Cr from college friends. The funds also helped them to set up their own factory in Noida rather than going for contract manufacturing.

“Everyone spoke against the idea of setting up a factory so early. But, we were stubborn… we knew the particular designs we needed and the flexibility of order quantity we required. No one else would have provided that,” Singh said.

With a factory in place, the startup rampantly increased its production and came up with newer designs to cater to the mounting demand. By the end of 2024, the startup was doing INR 50 Lakh in monthly sales.

But success brought new challenges. While the factory produced 600 pairs per month, demand had climbed to 1,000 pairs. The team expanded to around 10 employees to manage the growing operation.

This operational strain prompted Singh to approach Zeropearl VC’s Bipin Shah, who led thefirst institutional funding round in December 2024 worth INR 8.7 Cr. The round also saw participation from untitled ventures, Atrium Ventures, and other angel investors. In Singh’s own words, Shah helped them connect to more investors.

Post the funding, Gully Labs shifted to another factory in Noida, hired more employees, and came up with newer shoe designs. The fresh capital also helped Gully Labs diversify into accessories such as socks and shoe cleaners to increase the average order value.

By the second half of 2025, the startup launched its first store in South Delhi. By the end of 2025, the startup was selling 5,000 pairs of shoes, making INR 2 Cr in monthly sales. The startup is expected to close its FY26 at INR 16 Cr in sales. It is targeting INR 30 Cr in annual revenue by FY27.

As the startup wanted to scale further, Saama Capital onboarded the startup’s cap table and led INR 30 Cr in the startup’s Series A funding earlier this month. The startup plans to utilise this capital to hire more talent, increase the production capacity, and experiment with new designs. As of now, it has a 50-member team, engaged in marketing, research, design and manufacturing.

Looking forward, Singh plans to deepen Gully Labs’ offline presence with three new experience stores in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

International expansion is also on the agenda. The startup is exploring a physical outlet in the US within the next 12 to 18 months, driven by strong inbound interest. Currently, around 25% of Gully Labs’ revenue already comes from the US and the UK, indicating early traction in overseas markets.

Gully Labs’ journey underscores a broader shift in India’s consumer startup ecosystem: the move from price-led imitation to culture-led differentiation. By anchoring its brand in Indian design sensibilities while maintaining global quality standards, the startup has created a distinct identity in a crowded market.

However, competition is on the prowl in the Indian sneaker market, which continues to be dominated by foreign players like Nike, Puma, Adidas, et al. For many new sneaker enthusiasts, owning these brands is aspirational. Then, we have Indian names like Comet, Neeman’s, Rare Rabbit, etc., who are far more established than Gully Labs — both in terms of demand and time spent in knowing the Indian market.

While the startup may find it difficult to lock horns with both local and global players in the long run, it is set to receive a shot in the arm from its appearance on Shark Tank India (scheduled this week), at least in the first quarter of 2026. But for now, can Gully Labs convince Indian consumers to stop chasing global stamps?

Edited By Shishir Parasher

The post How Gully Labs Is Luring Indian Sneakerheads With Desi Designs appeared first on Inc42 Media.