Meet Ashay Bhave, the 23-year-old Indian who is turning garbage into Rs 7000 shoes

India’s newest green entrepreneur Ashay Bhave is the man behind the start-up that has successfully recycled tonnes plastic thrash into thousands of pairs of shoes in less than six months of operations.

Since July 2021, Bhave’s ‘Thaely’ sneakers have helped solve the pollution problem by reusing material from over 50000 plastic carry bags and 35000 discarded plastic bottles.

The 23-year-old came up with the idea while pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in 2017. The brand name ‘Thaely’ literally translates to plastic carry bags in Hindi. The idea was a design project he worked on during his college years. Now, the young entrepreneur has converted the idea into reality as a successful and sustainable business model.

While ‘Thaely’ maybe a minnow in the billion-dollar sneaker industry dominated by giants like Nike and Puma, the company has big plans and aims to soon start selling their products in European and American retail stores.

Completely made out of waste plastic and rubber, Ashay Bhave’s Thaely sneakers was propelled by victory at the Eureka startup pitch competition in 2019 at Amity University Dubai. This helped Bhave get funding to work on a prototype. His sneaker design is inspired from the basketball sneaker fashion of early 2000s. 

Ashay’s start-up procures raw material from a waste management company. Plastic bags are turned into a fabric called ThaelyTex with the help of heat and pressure. The fabric is then cut into shoe patterns. Plastic bottles recycled as recycled as a fabric called rPET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), is used for lining, shoe laces, packaging and other parts.

The sole is made up of recycled rubber from industrial scrap and tires which would otherwise end up in landfills. Each Thaely pair of shoes helps recycling 12 plastic bottles and 10 plastic bags. They come in four variants with a price tag of $99 (Rs 7000).

The young entrepreneur plans to sell around 25,000 pairs of shoes by end of next year, thereby recycling over 200,000 plastic bags. While Thaely’s shoes are ‘Made in India’ products, the company plans to focus on foreign markets like Dubai, Europe, Americas and Australia due to the product’s greater appeal.