Your Foot Doctor | This Husband-Wife duo brand is a one-stop shop for foot comfort and pain relief

• ByStartupStory     |    July 4, 2022

-“to ensure that you select the appropriate size and pair of shoes for your foot. We have a whole area of our website dedicated to providing comprehensive footcare advice, including pain-relieving sandals, professional support, a foot analysis system, etc.”- Rajeev Suarana, Co-founder of Your foot doctor, colour Me Mad private limited in an exclusive interview with Startup Story.-

The Health benefits of wearing the proper footwear cannot be overstated, although they are frequently disregarded or ignored. The majority of market options prioritise style over comfort. But this Mumbai-based business Color Me Mad and a husband-wife duo came up with the concept of using the material cork to create footwear as a way to overcome this gap. 

This husband-wife duo is not only a partner in crime but also runs the business equally. The moment the potential of this was realised, Rajeev Suarana joined as a co-founder right away, and that’s how Your Foot Doctor was officially launched!  The brand believes that the foundation of the foot needs equal care and attention as our face. 

Rajeev Suarana tells in an exclusive interview with the startup story, how Trishla Surana had the urge, and being the right-brained designer that she was, she made the choice to materialise the concept while discovering a technology that upgraded both the body and the eye equally. This is the story of how Trishla and Rajeev Surana drove the shoe industry insane. Trishla Surana’s journey from struggling to find shoes that fit her large feet to creating insoles for all types of shoes that provide comfort and support.

Your Foot Doctors!

The company is called Color Me Mad private limited, and the brand name is “Your Foot Doctor.” Users can discover doctors on CMM to treat any type of foot, ankle, or knee problem. With a professional team made up of orthotics, footwear artisans, designers, and technicians, YFD is a reputable start-up that is proud to be made in India. It offers the best foot care options through an innovative online business model that includes video consultations on demand, foam boxes delivered to customers’ doorsteps to take their foot impressions, and door-to-door shipping of insoles and shoes to customers around the globe.

Trishla, the company’s founder, has always sought to create colourful shoes that stand out from the mainstream options available. That is how the brand got its start as a company. With his wife Trishla Surana, Your feet doctor co-founder Rajeev Suarana made all the necessary arrangements to launch this firm in 2014. The startup’s original plan was to create personalised flip-flops using a print fabric and consider client preferences.

After the product was launched, marketing became a top priority. The duo engaged with fashion bloggers to reach their communities in order to build the brand, and they represented India at the International Innovation Fair in Turkey in 2016 as well as at major exhibitions like Ruchika in Mumbai.

The brand was represented on the Shark Tank India episode that aired on February 2, 2022, and Namita Thapar from Emcure Pharma provided funding for the venture. Since they discuss foot problems and how 2 out of 5 Indians have flat feet, which frequently go untreated, appearing on the show and selling their brand has been a huge turning point for the company.

Following Shark Tank, YFD received an overwhelmingly positive response from clients all over the world, and their personalised insoles quickly made headlines, which lead them to launch an at-home service in Mumbai as a test. 

In an exclusive conversation with The Startup Story Media, Rajeev Suarana shared his joy about appearing in a reality show and how it sped up the company’s growth in an exclusive conversation with startup story media. “By the grace of God, we were given the chance to be on Shark Tank, which took place on February 2, 2022. For the benefit of all of our viewers, we were in episode 33. What happened was that we had been discussing this for a while. We visited doctors, physiotherapists, and other professionals along the way to learn more about foot and foot problems. They are aware of the problems, but nobody has taken them seriously since the shark tank unlocked Pandora’s box. People from all over the world contacted us, which is encouraging since it validated them that this is a genuine problem. It also gave our brand the green light to continue working harder and reaching out to more people in support of a good cause.”

From Market to Customers

As the brand work to establish the Make In India brand, registering efficiency and economies of scale for their handcrafted goods has been difficult. The procedure requires a lot of labour, therefore the company is looking for ways to speed up production by using automation and more effective manufacturing techniques.

Trishla struggled before Rajeev joined the board as a co-founder. Being a woman in a field where men predominate the industry has its own obstacles since they don’t take women seriously. Additionally, the larger problem the brand faced was the unorganised nature of the footwear market which necessitated building relationships with the karigars. However, after appearing on Shark Tank, the market received some customer approval.

Rajeev Suarana discusses the brand’s unique market positioning exclusively with The Startup Story Media. “Both imported and locally produced cork-based brands of footwear are available. But often, they don’t use genuine cork or merely use cork sheets, which don’t offer the same qualities as our product. We set ourselves apart by offering customers vibrant designs and utmost comfort with latex cushioning, which creates cushioned, non-slip soles. YFD’s vision is to ensure your mobility and keep you pain-free.”

Key solutions for the costumers 

Practical problems like finding the right size is a significant hurdles for the customer. The lack of half-size in the Indian footwear market is a major problem. The market only produces a shoe size in the whole number, but when it comes to size half, the vendor will sell the whole number size to the customer, even though they may be loose or tight, and in the end, the customers will end up buying.

Another issue is that when buying footwear, the market often focuses on how your shoes appear rather than how they function ergonomically. Both nationally and overseas, there is no foot assessment.

Addressing each of these concerns Rajeev emphasises how the business offers customers a solution to these problems. “With the use of YFD technology, our objective is to collaborate with the major footwear manufacturers to help them redesign their focus on support, comfort, and ergonomics while creating footwear that can accommodate both narrow, petite feet and broad, large feet. We are probably the only company in the world which provide customized insoles to the customers with a better and more sustainable lifestyle.”

Vision Board

The brand is in the midst of creating a robust business model. Also, the company claims that they had cracked the secret formula in terms of operations and implementation in this Fiscal Year. The business is planning to be a significant player in the market in tech and innovation-driven footwear. 

The brand YFD specialises in medical arch insoles. The business intends to soon launch YFD-touched heel pads for women. The YFD is now focusing on sports. With the goal of having a presence in all major cities worldwide, it now operates out of three cities in India.

Rajeev stated in an exclusive interview with startup stories, “We are going to cooperate with the kabaddi league. Additionally, we are planning to develop a number of verticals centred around sports, pain, defence, and other areas.”

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