Freewill Sports eyes jogging shoes market

Seeing the huge potential for jogging shoes in the domestic market, Jalandhar-based Freewill Sports Private Ltd, the manufacturer of the "NIVIA" brand of footballs, volleyballs and basketballs, is set to enter the jogging shoes market in a big way with 1,200 individual sports dealers throughout the country.

Currently, the company supplies shoe soles for multinational shoe brands. It has the capacity to manufacture 30,000 pairs of jogging shoes a month.

Commenting on the competition, Freewill Sports Private Limited Managing Director Rajesh Kharbanda said, "The jogging shoe market is huge, where there is room for every player. But the need of the hour is to focus on quality. The company has a design and development cell to cater to the latest taste of the consumer. Already, the company has launched 20 designs in the market and is planning to float more 15-20 designs news."

He added that the company had a 1,200 strong sports dealers network through which it was planning to penetrate the market. Commenting about the growth, he added, "We hope to achieve a growth of 50 per cent in the jogging shoe market by the end of next fiscal. Initially, our focus would be on the domestic market only."

The company is the market leader in football, volleyball, handball and football shoes, as also in athletic spikes. Moreover, it is among the top three in basketball, cricket and tennis balls sections.

The "NIVIA " brand has been approved by FIFA and has been the official ball of a vast number of federations and events, including the National Football League, the National Games, SAF Games, International Jawaharlal Nehru Tournament, Junior Commonwealth Handball Championships and more.

Nivia has continuously updated its products, whether it be with the transition from leather balls to rubber to PU balls, or soccer shoes with leather soles to PVC to rubber to TPU materials, or with shin guards and molded balls. Apart from being the most popular sports brands in India, NIVIA also distributes its products to many countries.

In view of the Football World Cup, the company is hopeful of achieving 40 per cent growth in football sales this year.

He further added that unlike in the West where the sale of football shoes shoot up before the World Cup, in India it shoots up during the World Cup. Commenting upon the bottlenecks the company faces, he said, "Piracy of our products by small players has affected us a lot."