| Type | Public, (BSE 526596, NSE LIBERTSHOE) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shoe |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Headquarters | Karnal, Haryana [1] |
| Key people | Adesh Gupta (CEO) |
| Products | Footwear |
| Parent | Liberty Group |
| Website | libertyshoes.com |
Liberty Shoes Limited (LSL) is an Indian shoe company, based in Karnal, Haryana.
Established in 1954, today the company through its six manufacturing units collectively produces, 50,000 pairs of footwear a day, sold through 6,000 multi-brand outlets and 350 exclusive showrooms, and has a presence in 25 countries, with 50 showrooms outside India [2]. Adesh Gupta became the CEO of LSL in 2004, the year when the company celebrated its golden jubilee, the company had two Executive Directors, Adarsh Gupta and S.K. Goel [3][4].
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Liberty Shoes Ltd. was established on the 25th of December, 1954 in Karnal, Haryana (India) .
It was predominantly focused in the export of shoe uppers till the early '80s, when the Indian domestic market started to show promise, that is when in 1982, the company set up a unit to exclusively manufacture footwear for the domestic market, at an investment of Rs 3 crores. Its sport shoes range manufactured using polyurethane technology, though eventually set a precedent for the domestic market was initially considered a risky proposition as it was priced at Rs 300 a pair, compared with conventional canvas shoes selling at Rs 50. However, by 2010 Liberty had become a Rs 35-crore company.
'Force 10', Liberty's first sub-brand, was launched in August 1990, a time when a casual footwear wave sweeping the Indian market. By 1994-95, Force 10 became Liberty's flagship brand in value, notching up sales of Rs 32 crore, it the coming years, it not only help the company establish its name the domestic footwear market, but also paved the way for nine other sub-brands and a firm foothold the mass family footwear segment, till now led by Bata, now Liberty was the country's second largest footwear company after it[5].
The company saw major expansion in the 2000s, both in retail and manufacturing bases, leading to a sharp growth, in the year 2002-03, the company posted a retail turnover of Rs 400 crore. Also in April 2003, the Liberty Group underwent an important restructuring and its product portfolio was also revamped. As a part of the restructuring process, the company split its manufacturing and retail business in January 2004, with Liberty Shoes as the holding company for its shoe business and a subsidiary Liberty Retail Revolution Ltd for its retail business, which established a new retail channel through "Revolutions Stores", which were set up at in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai. At the same time it ventured into high fashion, by tying up with fashion designers including Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Gandhi, Ashish Soni and Suneet Verma to develop footwear to match their clothing lines [6][7][8]..
LSL produces more than 50,000 pairs of footwear a day covering virtually every age group and income category. Products are marketed across the globe through 150 distributors, 350 exclusive showrooms and over 6000 multi-brand outlets, and sold in thousands every day in more than 25 countries. After 50 years of its existence, today Liberty produces footwear for the all age groups. Currently, LSL is headed by Mr. Adesh Gupta as its CEO. It is a part of the 'Liberty Group' which includes other associate companies - Liberty Retail Revolutions Limited and Liberty Whiteware.
Liberty's manufacturing base includes six facilities spread across the numerous states, two in Karnal (Haryana) where its primary and the largest manufacturing units are situated, Paonta Sahib, (Himachal Pradesh) with two units and Roorkee (Uttarakhand) [9]. The company has avoided locations in the conventional Indian shoe manufacturing locations such as Agra, Kanpur, Noida, Chennai etc.[10]