He Built India’s Sneaker Brand From Scratch. Here’s How. | Arjun Singh, Gully Labs

Описание: Arjun Singh know how to make shoes. He didn’t have a factory, a designer, or a marketing budget. He had a conviction: Indian design can be aspirational.

Two and a half years later, ‪@gullylabs‬ makes premium sneakers in-house, ships internationally, and has built one of the most distinctive Indian consumer brands in the market — all starting from a prototype made by hand in a Noida workshop.

In this episode of Zero to Momentum, Arjun walks through the entire zero-to-one journey: how he found his first product person through an intern on Internshala, why they chose to manufacture themselves when everyone else outsources, the viral moment that sold 100 shoes in a week, and what he’d do differently in a 1 crore in 6 months playbook.

We also get into brand-building in a way I haven’t heard founders talk about before — brand as a “humanification” of principles, the dinner guest test, and why consistency is the hardest part of scaling a consumer company.

If you’re building a consumer brand, a D2C company, or just trying to figure out how to start something with zero background in the space — this one’s full of real, implementable lessons.

Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro
1:30 — What is Gully Labs and the Indian Dream
3:25 — Starting with zero manufacturing knowledge
6:00 — The non-obvious choice: manufacturing in-house
8:30 — A year to make 50 shoes by hand
9:30 — Building the brand identity with Animesh
12:00 — Brand as humanification — the dinner guest test
15:00 — Founder as brand custodian
17:30 — Finding the first team through a chain of people
19:30 — The viral reel that sold 100 shoes in a week
21:30 — The 1 crore in 6 months playbook
23:00 — Why they stayed at the 5–10K price point
25:00 — Understanding the Indian consumer
28:00 — SKU strategy and iconic silhouettes
30:00 — Indian consumers as the hardest test
32:00 — Mistakes: the cost of bad hires
33:30 — Raj’s two takeaways

Tags
sneakers india, gully labs, arjun singh, indian brand, D2C india, consumer brand, zero to momentum, startup india, shoe brand, indian dream, manufacturing startup, brand building, entrepreneurship india, premium sneakers, founder story