There’s no swimming around monsoon-clogged streets, so you may as well grow a set of flippers. Helping you in this endeavour is footwear designer Ilesha Khatau, who recently created Fish Flops, a range of uber cool waterproof sandals for men, women and children that are shaped like fish. And that's not even the cool bit. Buy a pair and 7.5 per cent of the sale will go to ReefWatch India, an NGO that works towards marine and coastal conservation. This would be her cue to fish for compliments.
Such Fin-esse!
Ilesha graduated with a political science degree from Chicago University, but decided to come home to Mumbai and contribute to her mom Neomy’s footwear brand Kan, by creating custom-design shoes. Her inspiration behind the fish flops is her star sign, Pisces, which stands for “creative and whimsical”.
These flexible fish sandals come with matching metallic straps for women and faux leather straps for men. We love that the colours are linked to marine ecology— there‘s Oilspill (black), Mudflats (brown), Goldfish (gold), Ultraviolet (purple) and Finding Nemo (orange), to name a few.
The female fish flops are priced at Rs 751 each, which represents the 751 km Indian coastline, and the male fish flops will set you back by Rs 816 each, taken from the 816 sq km of mostly unexplored coral reefs in Lakshadweep. She'll ship her flippers to Delhi as well, but courier charges will apply.
Sea of Change
Ilesha has also acquired a 100 sq feet space next to The BodyShop at Mumbai's Colaba Causeway, where she will set up a store called Parvati Villa in October this year. Besides stocking her own footwear, she’s looking forward to collaborating with design students to do limited edition series. Ilesha also plans to stock accessories sourced from designers across India and South East Asia. Fish fingers crossed!
Getting there: To order call Ilesha o9820550171, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit the Facebook page here. She ships to Delhi, but courier charges will apply.
