This Brilliant 23-YO Is Turning Your Plastic Trash Into Shoes Worth Rs 7000

The 23-year-old founder and CEO of Thaely, Ashay Bhave upcycles hundreds of kgs of plastic waste into chic sneakers that sell for Rs 7000 a pair. His brilliant idea has blown away Anand Mahindra and the rest of India's startup ecosystem.

By Anagha R Manoj

November 20, 2021

In a world that produces millions of plastic waste everyday, 23-year-old Ashay Bhave is recycling them to produce sneakers.

The idea of converting plastic bags and bottles into shoes struck him in 2017 while pursuing his BBA degree. While he was preparing for higher studies, he also worked on some design projects.

Today, he is the founder and CEO of Thaely, which means plastic carry bags in Hindi.

Within a period of six months, Thaely has got distributors from the world over and has sold thousands of pairs of shoes.

In order to produce one pair of shoes, 10 plastic bags and 15 bottles are recycled.

To date, his company has recycled around 50,000 plastic bags and 35,000 plastic bottles.

“We thought of selling 1500 sneakers within a year but sold the same number in 3-4 months. We have exceeded our expectations,” says Ashay.

The young entrepreneur hopes to sell 25,000 pairs this year priced at Rs 7,000 a piece.

Impressed by his efforts, Anand Mahindra said to ‘count him in’ for fundraising in a Tweet.

This is awesome!
A startup in India ?? is making these sneakers (a $70 billion market) are made of garbage (12 plastic bottles and handful of trash bags). And for $110, they will be shipped anywhere in the world.@Thaely_inc
pic.twitter.com/ogNwVCFhXY

— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) November 17, 2021

Watch the success story of this responsible, young entrepreneur here:

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