Brand Story

Not just a designer. A shoemaker first. 
Naren Thakur

From a Small Room to a Global Idea
Every great house begins somewhere unlikely. Naren Thakur began in 2014, in a small room — no showroom, no team of artisans on call, just an idea and a pair of hands willing to learn every stitch, every last, every curve of a shoe by heart.

While fashion in India has no shortage of designers, footwear does. Most labels treat it as an accessory to clothing rather than a craft in its own right and bespoke shoemaking, in particular, remains almost untouched.

Naren Thakur saw that gap not as a limitation, but as space to build something genuinely his own, rooted in a personal love for shoes that predates the label itself.
What started as one person's obsession with craft has, over the years, grown into a full-fledged footwear label — one that now lives online, reaching customers far beyond that first room, while never losing the handcrafted attention it was built on.

Craft, Not Just Commerce
For Naren Thakur, a shoe was never meant to be just a product. It is a small, wearable piece of craftsmanship — oxfords, loafers, monk straps, mules — each pair made with the same patience and precision the brand began with. That founding philosophy has not changed; only the scale has.
Collaborations That Elevated the Craft
As the brand grew, so did its circle. Naren Thakur has gone on to collaborate with several names and platforms, each partnership pushing the label's design language further — from limited collections to cross-brand projects that brought new ideas, new silhouettes, and new audiences to the table.

Among these, the label's collaborative work with designer Anurag Gupta stands out as a dedicated collection in its own right — proof that Naren Thakur's growth has always been about creative partnership as much as
individual vision.

From Craft to Art

In 2026, that philosophy reached its most ambitious expression yet. Naren Thakur presented “Caged Souls — The Proximity Paradox,” an installation at the Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre, New Delhi, as part of Borrowed Identities, alongside India Art Fair 2026.

A handcrafted metallic shoe, built around a distinctive cage structure and an engraved sole, was transformed into a piece of fine art — exploring modern relationships through form. It was a moment that captured exactly what Naren Thakur has stood for since that first small room: footwear that goes beyond function and becomes an expression of an idea.

“Your idea. Your pair. Made by Naren Thakur.”

Made For You — Bespoke
That same spirit of craftsmanship extends to Naren Thakur Bespoke. Customers bring their own idea — design, material, colour, detailing, finish — and the brand's team works with them to create a pair personalised entirely to their vision. Whether a variation of an existing design or something created from scratch, every bespoke pair is still made the way the very first pairs were: individually, and with attention to every detail.

Today
More than a decade since that small room in 2014, Naren Thakur is now a name recognised for both its readyto-wear collections for men and women and its presence in art and culture — a brand that has grown in size but stayed true to the hands-on craft it was founded on.