Ambur is putting ‘made in India’ shoes on feet around the world, creating jobs in the region and providing agency to women in the process
In Tamil Nadu’s Ambur, a town known as much for its biryani as leather products, a small lane off the under-construction Chennai-Bengaluru highway leads to Aston Shoes. It’s not a company many have heard of, but it has lived up to the ‘Make In India, For The World’ motto for decades. Shoes for some of the world’s best-known footwear brands are made here.
Sitting in the conference room on the first floor, Israr Ahmed, director of the Farida Group comprising 11 companies that include tanneries and manufacturing units for shoes and shoe soles, tells TOI how in 1957 his grandfather started a tannery in this Tamil Nadu town. From shipping leather to making leather uppers, to manufacturing the entire range of leather footwear for the world’s leading brands, the 67-year-old group has come a long way. But it’s the future that has Israr excited.
Sitting in the conference room on the first floor, Israr Ahmed, director of the Farida Group comprising 11 companies that include tanneries and manufacturing units for shoes and shoe soles, tells TOI how in 1957 his grandfather started a tannery in this Tamil Nadu town. From shipping leather to making leather uppers, to manufacturing the entire range of leather footwear for the world’s leading brands, the 67-year-old group has come a long way. But it’s the future that has Israr excited.