Remember Ashay Bhave? Here’s the Inspiring Story of the 24-Year Old Who Started Thaely
Ashay Bhave (24), who was then a student pursuing his bachelor’s degree in business administration, had a thought in 2017. As a side project for his personal design portfolio to create sneakers in an ethical manner, he considered turning plastic bottles and bags into shoes.
His website reads, “The aim of the exercise was to find a solution to the problem of the 100 billion plastic bags used each year that use 12 million barrels of oil and kill 100,000 marine animals annually.” For the next two years, Ashay researched and created a plastic waste-based fabric that resembled leather. When he wanted to make a rough prototype and determine whether it would be feasible to replace traditional leather with this newly produced cloth, he turned to a local shoe repairer in Mumbai.
“The test was successful and the finished prototype functioned and looked like a traditional leather sneaker,” it says on the website.
Ashay therefore introduced his brand Thaely, which is Hindi for “plastic bag,” in 2021. The company purchases plastic from a waste processing facility. The bags are cut into sheets and fused with heat and pressure after being cleaned and sanitised.
One pair of shoes from the brand costs as little as Rs 8,000 and is made from recycled plastic bottles and 10 plastic bags. To date, they have recycled 48,000 used plastic bottles and more than 50,000 plastic carry bags. Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (rPET), a cloth made from used PET plastic bottles, is another product made by the team. According to Ashay, rPET has the same quality as virgin polyester but uses 59 percent less energy to produce. The toe box, interior, laces, and tote bag where the sneakers are stored all contain rPET.
Furthermore, Thaely offers discounts to clients who return their used pairs of sneakers in exchange for new ones.
Ashay intends to increase his sales outside of India and concentrate on selling these shoes in international markets as well, including Dubai, Europe, America, and Australia.
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