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ARTICLE AD BOX
TENxYOU, co-founded by Sachin Tendulkar, has launched a special sneaker edition to celebrate the 1998 Desert Storm.
The Master Blaster played a legendary innings against Australia in Sharjah, UAE, amid a literal sandstorm. He scored 143 runs off 131 balls, including 9 fours and 5 sixes.
Though India lost the match, his performance secured their qualification for the Coca-Cola Cup final. He scored another century in the final to win the tournament.
We had a detailed discussion with Karthik Gurumurthy, CEO and Co-founder - TENxYOU. He gave in-depth answers to our curious probes. Check it out.
Q. The 1998 Desert Storm innings is nearly three decades old. Why launch a sneaker specifically, rather than any other form of commemoration?
A. The launch of the Desert Storm sneaker is a key milestone within TENxYOU’s overarching brand strategy, which revolves around immortalising Sachin Tendulkar’s most iconic moments into wearable legacy. Rather than releasing products at random, we meticulously time our launches to coincide with the actual calendar dates of these historic innings.
This approach allows us to organically tap into the massive, naturally occurring social media chatter and nostalgia that surfaces every year. For the Desert Storm edition, the April launch deliberately aligned with not only the anniversary of that legendary 1998 performance but also Sachin’s birthday on April 24th, creating a compounded moment of celebration.
This chronological storytelling builds upon a proven track record of successful, moment-driven releases. We previously launched the NOX Legacy Sneaker's Sydney Edition, highlighting one of his most revered phases, and followed it in December with the NOX Debut Sneaker, specifically designed to celebrate his 1989 Test debut.
Looking ahead, we are committed to continuing this timeline of legacy. We are currently developing our next major release, which will centre around his unforgettable, high-stakes innings against Pakistan during the 2003 World Cup.
Q. Every detail on this shoe, the April 1998 tongue stitch, the 1998 jersey tint on the heel tab, the Jacquard mesh mimicking desert sand dunes, is doing narrative work. How do you brief a design team to translate a cricket innings into a material object, without it becoming costume?
A. When we brief our design team to translate a historic cricket innings into a tangible product, the fundamental rule is to avoid creating a costume. Instead, we break our storytelling down into a rigorous three-legged approach. The first leg focuses on environmental and historical aesthetics. For the NOX Debut, we used an all-white palette with the iconic sweater colours of the 1989 Indian Test team. For Desert Storm, we integrated the dark and light blue of the 1998 ODI jersey onto the heel tab.
We then mirrored the Sharjah landscape directly into the shoe’s architecture: the jacquard mesh, the multi-lined sole pattern, and even the deliberate curvature of the laces was engineered to mimic the desert sand dunes. The second leg is dedicated to embedding untold, behind-the-scenes stories into the product.
During the 1990s, One Day Internationals were gruelling 8- to 9-hour affairs. Due to the extreme Sharjah heat,
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Sachin famously skipped the mid-innings lunch and sustained himself entirely on butterscotch ice cream, a detail we wove directly into the shoe's material design. Furthermore, Sachin revealed to us that by the end of that match, his feet felt as if they were resting on hot coals, prompting him to immediately soak them in a bucket of ice cubes in the dressing room.
We translated this specific anecdote by designing a custom ice-cube pattern hidden beneath the removable insole, offering fans a deeply personal piece of history.
The third and final leg of our design language is the packaging and collectable experience, which completely immerses the buyer in the era.
We designed a custom shoe charm modelled precisely after the unique, minaret-style architecture that sits atop the Sharjah Stadium. Because that match is virtually synonymous with Tony Greig’s iconic commentary, we etched his most famous lines onto a collectable ball included with the shoe.
Finally, we leaned heavily into pure 90s nostalgia for the unboxing experience. The shoe box itself was designed to look like an old-time colour television, which tied perfectly into our launch campaign in a carefully recreated 1990s living room, complete with a VCR, Frooti, and Rasna.
Q. A 16-year-old buying this sneaker today was not born when Sachin batted in Sharjah. A 40-something was buying it in front of a television, having goosebumps. Does TENxYOU think about legacy differently depending on which generation is carrying it forward?
A. Legacy inherently transcends the specific era in which it was created. A highly relevant comparison is the modern sneaker market: today, countless 16-year-olds actively wear and collect Air Jordans, despite the fact that Michael Jordan last played for the Bulls in 1998.
To put that in perspective, a 28-year-old today would have just been born when Jordan retired. Yet, the stories survive. In the same way, while a teenager buying the Desert Storm sneaker wasn't alive for the match, the product serves as a gateway. Driven by the shoe's narrative details, they go back to YouTube, watch the innings, and grasp the magnitude of the performance.
We do not look at global lifestyle brands or limited-edition hype to reverse-engineer a shoe.
For the 40-something consumer, the shoe provides pure, visceral nostalgia. But for the younger generation, it represents a connection to the emotional roots of modern Indian confidence. The 1990s was an era heavily dominated by an invincible Australian cricket team, and India was still finding its footing globally.
Sachin’s grit, perfectly captured by his legendary "Main Khelega" (I will play) moment, where, as a bleeding 16-year-old, he refused to leave the pitch, mirrored India's own socio-cultural emergence.
As commentator Harsha Bhogle has beautifully articulated, Sachin’s on-field emotions and determination closely resembled what India itself was going through during that decade. He was the first Indian sportsman to command worldwide reverence, teaching an entire country how to stand up with confidence. So, when a 16-year-old, who only knows India as a modern global power, wears this shoe, they are physically connecting with the foundational grit that built the country's current self-belief.
Q. When your co-founder is Sachin Tendulkar, you start with an organic reach that most brands spend decades and hundreds of crores trying to buy. How does that shape your paid marketing decisions? Is there a risk that over-relying on Sachin?
A. Sachin Tendulkar’s role as a co-founder at TENxYOU is strictly anchored in product engineering and long-term vision; he is not utilised merely as a shortcut for paid marketing or organic reach. First and foremost, he brings an unparalleled level of elite sporting knowledge directly into the technical development of our footwear. His attention to detail dictates our technical specifications, ensuring that every functional feature we add meets the highest standards of the sporting world.
Beyond product engineering, his involvement anchors our overarching brand philosophy: "Never Stop Playing." Sachin's primary vision is to encourage everyday Indians to transition from being passive spectators to active participants in sports. Therefore, our core objective as a brand is to bring his vision to life by creating products that make playing comfortable and accessible for everyone. Our strategy relies on aligning our products with this mission, rather than leveraging his celebrity to simply sell shoes.
Q. If Sachin Tendulkar's name were removed from every piece of communication tomorrow, what is the product argument that makes someone choose a TENxYOU sneaker over everything else on that shelf?
Even without the celebrity connection, our products stand firmly on engineering choices made specifically for the Indian consumer. A major differentiator is our localised surface engineering. Western brands typically design their outsoles for lush, manicured turf and simply import those shoes here.
We know that Indians play on rough, uneven, and unpredictable grounds. Because of this, our outsoles and grip patterns are custom-engineered to provide traction and safety on these exact terrains.
We also focus heavily on the actual level of expertise of the everyday consumer. If you look at running events, people running full 42-kilometre marathons make up maybe 10% of the participants. The vast majority, almost 50% to 60%, are running 10 kilometres or less.
Legacy inherently transcends the specific era in which it was created
Because our brand purpose is to get regular people active, we don't fixate on niche, elite-level performance metrics. We engineer our shoes for superlative, all-day comfort instead of an area that top-tier performance brands often overlook.
The modern Indian consumer needs a highly versatile shoe. It has to handle a morning sport but remain comfortable and stylish enough for the office. If someone plays a sport in the morning, works all day, and takes a late-night flight, they might spend 16 hours on their feet. Our footwear is built to provide unwavering support without causing fatigue through that entire cycle.
A core, non-negotiable feature across our entire product line is the internal architecture. The foundational mould, or the "last," of every TENxYOU sneaker is specifically widened to accommodate the broader anatomical structure of the Indian foot. This single detail sets us completely apart from imported lifestyle brands.
Q. Aspirational brands like Nike and Adidas do not just sell shoes; they sell belonging to a global sporting tribe, backed by decades of athlete storytelling. TENxYOU is telling a very specific, very Indian story. Is that specificity your competitive edge, or is it also a ceiling? How far can an India-rooted sporting narrative realistically travel internationally?
A. Our competitive edge against legacy global giants lies in our strategic focus on the "everyday athlete" rather than the elite top tier. Aspirational brands have spent decades selling the elite athlete experience, but global consumer data shows a shifting reality. A brand like Skechers, for instance, is one of the top-performing sneaker companies globally.
Yet, if you look at the top 100 podium finishers at the Boston Marathon, very few, if any, are wearing Skechers. Their immense success stems from catering to the massive demographic of people running 5Ks and 10Ks, or simply going for brisk morning walks. TENxYOU shares this exact philosophy: we build for the vast majority who play for joy, not just the crème de la crème.
As the global market becomes increasingly personalised, the old advertising model of inspiring an amateur to buy a shoe built for an Olympian is fading. Consumers now demand products optimised for their specific reality. Take the running shoe market as a prime example.
The current trend at the elite level is the "tempo run" shoe, designed for athletes running at a 4.5 to 5-minute-per-kilometre pace. These shoes feature aggressive carbon plates and extreme rocker designs built to constantly propel the runner forward. However, if an everyday consumer buys that shoe to run on Tuesday and wear to the office on Friday, standing all day in a shoe designed to aggressively push them forward is actively uncomfortable and impractical.
Furthermore, extremely high-stack, ultra-squishy shoes are engineered for ultra-marathoners. But what does the first-time 5K or 10K runner actually need? They may not have the perfect BMI, they might lack elite calf and shin strength, and they are navigating unpredictable roads. For these runners, an ultra-squishy shoe is dangerous; one wrong landing could result in a multi-year injury.
The shoe box itself was designed to look like an old-time colour television
Instead, these everyday runners require supreme stability. This is why TENxYOU focuses exclusively on the "stability shoe" category, a space that has been brilliantly validated by brands like ASICS and Skechers. Our shoes may not shave 15 seconds off your personal best, but they will ensure that if you step in a pothole, your foot will not twist. By prioritising the safety, stability, and comfort of sports novices and enthusiasts, we are tapping into a universal consumer need that transcends national borders, allowing our narrative to scale well beyond Indian borders.
Q. How did you land on the price point for the Desert Storm sneaker? When you were making that call, were you benchmarking against Indian sportswear brands, global lifestyle sneaker brands or limited-edition collectable culture?
A. Our pricing strategy is completely product-first and is entirely divorced from competitor benchmarking or sneakerhead collector culture. We do not look at global lifestyle brands or limited-edition hype to reverse-engineer a shoe in order to meet an arbitrary retail price or inflate our margins. Instead, our process begins with a very simple philosophy: we mandate the creation of the best possible product.
We invest in top-tier global designers and utilise the best factory capabilities available. Once the manufacturing costs for those premium materials and features are finalised, we simply apply a standard, honest business margin to arrive at the final consumer price. We absolutely refuse to cut corners or compromise on the product's integrity just to make it artificially accessible.
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