Student develops solutions for odour-free shoes

A 16-year-old, Aalya Vora developed Sili-Dry to keep shoes dry during monsoons and Odor-Go that keeps different parts of the home free from odor.

Aalya faced a huge problem during the monsoons every year as a footballer. As most of the practice sessions took place during the rain, her shoes never dried before practice the next day. This, coupled with the humidity the city experiences throughout the year, meant that most of the footwear would smell unless washed and dried constantly.

This simple need for fresh-smelling footwear led Aalya to create a product called Sili-Dry this year. These are small sacks filled with a drying agent.

"Sili-Dry combats the never-ending humidity and rain issues by absorbing moisture and thus drying the shoes and preventing foul odors, dampness, and any kind of fungus formation. The sack is intuitive to use as the colour of the logo printed on it changes once it's saturated, and what's more, it's also reusable," says Aalya

This sack is useful not just for shoes but can even prevent rusting in razors and other such products, prevent musty smells in blankets, and can prevent the spoilage of any electronics or goods in general, which are susceptible to moisture.

To overcome the seasonal nature of demand for Sili-Dry, Aalya introduced another product called Odor-Go. It is a sack filled with an absorbent to remove unpleasant smells and once it is used, it leaves the area (refrigerators, dustbin cabinets, bathrooms, etc.) odor free and pleasant. Odor-Go can be used for up to two months at a time and is also reusable.

So far, she has sold over 1,000 pieces of Sili-Dry and 300 pieces of Odor-Go, and in the process has catered to more than 500 clients. This, she says, is a testament to not only the huge demand for a product like this but also the quality of her product.

She sourced the raw material and outsourced manufacturing of the sacks through her mother who runs a garment business and had worked with these vendors before.

Aalya has priced Sili-Dry at Rs 100 and Odor- Go at Rs 80. She has built in margins in the product that leaves her with enough profit to be redeployed for marketing and further product development.

She designed her brochures, website, business cards, etc., and received first-hand experience of selling to customers to set the ball rolling.

She got her first order from the catalogue at the show and her participation also helped generate word-of-mouth publicity. Since then, she has been getting regular orders, via social media and many repeat orders from her existing clients.

"My plan for the future is to expand my sales platform and use ecommerce to reach out to a larger audience. I plan to do it during my school break," Aalya concludes.