Five Years In: A Thank You, and Our 2025 Update

Five years ago, we started BLKBRD Shoemaker with a simple question:

Why aren’t truly high-quality shoes accessible to more people, without inflated pricing or marketing gimmicks?

So we set out to build the kind of footwear we’d want to wear for decades: honest materials, obsessive attention to detail, craftsmanship you can see in every stitch, and fair pricing backed by real value.

We didn’t come from a footwear or business background. We were (and still are) bootstrapped. Coming from a Defence background, we grew up with simple values: discipline, consistency, and deep respect for the work. Those values quietly became our operating system.

And if BLKBRD has become what it is today, it’s because of YOU.

You didn’t just buy shoes, YOU helped build a brand

From day one, you gave us something bigger than an order: belief.

Many of you supported us early, encouraged us when we doubted ourselves, and gave detailed feedback that made the product better. You told us what you loved, what needed refinement, and what you wanted to see next. That kind of input is rare, and we don’t take it lightly.

And yes, you shared BLKBRD with your friends and family. That word-of-mouth support helped us reach more shoe enthusiasts than any ad ever could.

So before anything else: thank you for trusting us, challenging us, and sticking with us.

2025: A year of refinement, building, and hard lessons

2025 was a major year for us, especially for our boot lineup. Some of the lasts and patterns you’ve seen this year were in development for over a year, and a few are still waiting for a proper launch. We cared more about getting the details right than rushing a release.

At the same time, we faced a major external shock: new U.S. tariffs on Indian footwear, which hit us hard.

But as we often say at BLKBRD: every challenge opens a new gate.

We’ve tried to absorb most of the impact to keep pricing stable. If tariffs remain at this level long term, we may need to adjust pricing in the future, simply to keep operations and product development healthy, while staying committed to delivering strong value.

The biggest change for US Clients : our U.S. website + shipping workflow

To adapt quickly to the newly applied 50% U.S. import duties on Indian footwear, we launched a dedicated U.S. website and a more structured U.S. shipping workflow, and we’re still refining it.

One trade-off: in some cases, shipping can take longer right now, because we bring pairs into our U.S. warehouse in batches and then ship domestically.

But the long-term payoff matters:

• Faster domestic delivery once key styles are stocked

• Better reliability and tracking

• The ability to deliver in time for your important moments, weddings, travel, work milestones, celebrations

Our goal is to stock more RTW (Ready-to-Wear) styles in the U.S., so you get your pairs much faster, without compromising build quality.

Our collection has grown a lot, and with more styles, leathers, soles, and options, browsing can sometimes feel overwhelming. So we’re refining the collection and making it easier to navigate with clearer categories, simpler browsing, and more RTW options, so finding the right pair feels effortless.

Craft takes time and we’re improving how we deliver it

Our workshop stayed busy all year (thank you for that). And with fully handmade footwear, often 100+ steps, timelines can shift when multiple things move at once.

A few realities we want to be transparent about:

• Sometimes, certain orders took longer than planned

• At times, we prioritized pairs needed for urgent events or travel, meaning other deliveries shifted

• Handmade capacity is real capacity, there’s only so much skilled time available in a day

That said, we’re not using “handmade” as an excuse. We treat it as a responsibility.

In 2025, we continued working to:

• Increase capacity thoughtfully

• Improve production planning

• Strengthen QC consistency

• Deliver clearer, more proactive updates

We’ll be honest: we haven’t been perfect. We’ve made a few mistakes. But we’ve used those moments to strengthen our processes and manufacturing, so your next experience is smoother than your last.

No paid ads. No noise. Just your word.

One thing we’re deeply proud of: BLKBRD has grown primarily through customers, community, and word-of-mouth, not paid ads.

We did a few trunk shows to bring the shoes closer to you, so you could see and feel that we do what we say. We also shared pairs with respected experts in the industry, because we want honest feedback on where we stand and what it takes to reach the next level.

We’re building slowly, on purpose. What started with Pradeep and a couple of craftsmen in a small shop has grown into a team of 75+ today. And we’re not stopping there, because real scale in handcrafted footwear doesn’t come from machines, it comes from training, time, and standards. We’re continuing to invest in people, capacity, and craft, so we can make more pairs each year without compromising what makes BLKBRD, BLKBRD.

Our pricing philosophy: best value, without cutting corners

We’ve often been told to raise prices, and maybe one day we will have to. In fact, pricing for our standard line has stayed the same for the last four years.

But our principle has always been simple:

Build high-quality, long-lasting footwear, and make it accessible to more people.

Because we own manufacturing end-to-end and operate a true D2C model, we’ve worked hard to keep pricing fair while still using premium materials and skilled construction.

Running a full workshop isn’t easy. There are dozens of things that require constant monitoring - quality, training, finishing consistency, production flow, compared to simply white-labeling products. That’s exactly why we chose to build our own manufacturing from day one: to control craftsmanship and quality.

Wherever the future takes us, one promise stays the same:

We will keep pushing to deliver the best value for your money, and a pair you’ll be proud to wear and own.

Looking to 2026: we’ll need you more than ever

You’ll see meaningful updates in 2026—more refinements, better availability, stronger customer support, and a few launches we’ve been building quietly behind the scenes.

And as always, your feedback will shape what we do next. If you’ve ever wanted to help us build BLKBRD, this is the moment—tell us what you want more of, what you want improved, and what you’d love to see next.

If you’d like to reach me directly: sandeep@blkbrdshoemaker.com

Your turn 🙂

Leave a comment with what you’d like to see from BLKBRD in 2026—ideas, feedback, even tough love. We read it all.

Thanks again,
Sandeep & Pradeep
BLKBRD Shoemaker