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Woodland (brand)

The famous indian wood land shoes

Woodland. A name which all of us trust for its quality, durability and style.

This blog will focus on How Woodland Became a Famous Brand.

In 1992 Russia was divided into various socialist states and one big country was converted into various socialist ststes and named USSR. Now this we all know. But what we do not know is that this let to the foundation of Woodland shoes and the brand itself.

Aero Club the award winning export house from Delhi suffered heavy loss due to this division of Russia as its major exports was into Russia and hence not only it lost business but also was left with heavy inventory of shoes which was made for exports. The inventory included of leather casual shoes and industrial boots.

The chairman of Aero Club Mr Avtar Singh decided to launch some of the styles lying in the inventory in the Indian market to see what kind of response is received.

Among these shoes there was one shoe which made the brand woodland. Many of us reading this blog about woodland shoes must have even worn that shoe sometime in their lifetime.

The shoe was made of very thick buff leather and even had leather laces. The sole was made of hard rubber. The upper of the shoe was hand made and hand stitched. In short this was a shoe which could last seasons without any trouble at all.

After lots of brain storming sessions these shoes were launched with the brand name Woodland. Initially it was launched in only 2-3 selective stores in New Delhi at south extention-2 and CP inner circle which were owned by Aero club. However, lots of big and small shoe stores in Delhi were given some stock for selling on commission basis.

Since then Aero Club never looked back. Customers went crazy for the hand stitched leather shoe and its demand increased from every where. This shoe had a style number G-0092 as it was the year 1992 and ‘G’ stood for gents. Though Aero Club had lots of inventory of this shoe which they initially made for exports but Mr Avatar Singh being a futuristic businessmen did foresee the demand for the shoe and asked the shoe to be made in 5 different colors which were khaki, black, olive, camel and a mixed color including combination of these colors.

This rocked the shoe market and word of mouth spread and so did the name Woodland. The best part about these shoes was that they were hand made, hand stitched, very stylish which could be worn with trousers, denims or cargo trousers and shorts. Though, the factor which helped most in making these woodland shoes famous was the shoes durability. Customers who bought these shoes wear them for 5-6 years and nothing could wear them off, specially the G-0092 one. This increased the brand loyalty of Woodland Shoes.

At that time in early 1990's not too many shoes brands were their in the Indian market apart from Bata and this situation of lack of competition also favored the growth of Woodland shoes.

Once the people became aware of Woodland Mr Avatar Singh sensed another opportunity in the Indian market and that of casual shoes demand. He observed that there is no casual shoes brand in the Indian shoe market and this unidentified and unattended demand can be taken care of.

Since then Woodland Shoes has been launching casual and tracking shoes which are very popular among the young people. Also Woodland has grown as a brand since then and now it has around where 250 stores all over India.