What does it take to build a footwear brand in India that competes globally, without taking the easy route through China?In this episode of The Groundbreakin, we sit down with Ajaaz, Principal Designer and Co-Founder at Ludic, a footwear-first lifestyle brand built from scratch in India. From his early years designing for Fila to working on KL Rahul’s Puma collab, to investing 50-60 lakhs in proprietary tooling instead of an open mold, Ajaaz breaks down what it actually takes to design, manufacture and sell a footwear product in one of the toughest production landscapes in the world.From a college kid sketching shoes in Kerala to co-founding a brand selling 65,000 pairs a year, this is a conversation about craft, conviction, and saying no more often than you say yes.IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL DISCOVER:How a Kerala kid obsessed with cars ended up in footwear design instead (1:53)The DM that landed him India’s first dedicated footwear design role at Fila (4:35)Getting shortlisted top 8 in the world at the Spensole Sneaker Championship (7:02)How a chance meeting led to Fila’s first-ever India collab with Veg Nonveg (8:06)Why he tells most prospective clients not to start a footwear brand at all (19:39)What working on KL Rahul’s Puma collab taught him about brand pricing (3:26)Why Ludic spent 50-60 lakhs on its own molds instead of buying off-the-shelf from China (14:04)The real story behind why Nike pulled all manufacturing out of India (5:40)Building Future Works  Ludic’s experimental product world with filmmaker Don (18:56)What “winning” actually means to a designer who doesn’t think in revenue numbers (14:48)