How a Small-Town Girl Turned Her Hand-Painted Sneakers Hobby into a Rs 5 Crore Turnover Brand

Back in 2018 Malvica Saxena’s dream took root in a small basement room of her home in the quiet town of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

What began as a small hobby, lifting her from a period of depression while her parents focused on finding her a match, has now grown into a booming business with a turnover of Rs 5 crore.

Malvica Saxena started hand-painting sneakers as a hobby, which transformed into The Quirky Naari (TQN) later (Photos: Special Arrangement)

Malvica founded The Quirky Naari (TQN) with just Rs 5,000, to create hand-painted sneakers as a way of coping with personal challenges. Her products soon caught on with friends and family, and within months, her unique designs were being noticed beyond her small circle.

From a few initial designs, her brand now offers over 200 products, featuring everything from light-up sneakers, sequined heels, bridal footwear, and slip-ons, to trendy oversized T-shirts.


In 2022, Shark Tank India investors, Vineeta Singh and Anupam Mittal, invested in the company. The company, which had only the founder as its sole employee in the first year, now has a strong team of 17 employees.

TQN has shifted its base from the small town of Mathura to the upscale area of Gittorni in South Delhi and operates as a fully online brand. Around 80% of its business comes from its own website and the remaining from platforms like Amazon and Myntra.

Malvica was born in 1990 in Mathura, UP, into a well-to-do family. Her father is in the tobacco business, and her mother, a homemaker, also supports her father’s work. Malvica’s younger sister, Ambica, is a content writer.

Malvica recalls that, despite the freedom her parents gave her and her sister, societal pressure was always there. “People would often tell our parents how important it was to have a son,” she says, adding that her father, however, had a progressive outlook and prioritised their education.

“He even gave us a moped in high school so we could explore the city,” she shares. While her extended family started discussing her marriage after graduation, Malvica’s dreams were elsewhere. “I was focused on fashion and modelling,” she remembers, “and marriage wasn’t even on my mind.”

Malvica completed her MBA from GLA University, Mathura

Throughout her schooling in Mathura, Malvica drew inspiration from her father’s business success, admiring his ethics and discipline. After finishing her Class 12 in 2006, she pursued a B.Sc. at BSA College, graduating in 2009.

“Whenever someone asked what I wanted to do, my answer was the same: I wanted to be in business,” she shares.

After graduation, Malvica initially followed her peers by preparing for banking exams, though she couldn’t qualify. “My dream was to move out of Mathura,” she admits, “but when my mother urged me to stay, I decided to complete my MBA locally.” She joined GLA University, Mathura, where she completed her MBA in 2013.

Following her MBA, she knew her parents would not support her moving out for work, so she skipped campus placements. While her family focused on finding a suitable match for her, Malvica stayed glued to her house, spending her days idly scrolling through Facebook.

“I saw my friends vacationing in Bali and switching jobs,” she says. When her family started serious marriage discussions, she finally expressed her reluctance, leading to what she describes as a “year-long cold war” with her parents.

Malvica was frustrated with her parents over their persistent marriage discussions, as she had always been ambitious and eager to carve out her own path.

“I wanted to be a self-made person,” she says. Her parents, however, felt she had all the comforts in life and didn’t see the need for her to work hard or pursue a career. This difference in outlook began to strain their relationship.

After completing her MBA, Malvica enrolled in a small fashion design institute in Mathura to put off marriage plans. Later, she accepted a teaching position at the same institute, where she earned a modest Rs 5,000 per month between 2014 and 2016.

But one incident changed her life entirely. One day, the two sisters were cleaning their wardrobes.

It all started with Malvica's creative burst on a pair of worn-out shoes that her sister was about to discard

Malvica’s younger sister Ambika picked a few pairs of shoes that she wanted to discard. But Malvica suggested that she would redo them for her and made a beautiful pattern on the old worn-out pair. It came out to be a smart quirky design and looked as good as new.

When Ambika wore them to college, her friends noticed it and soon began asking if Malvica could design similar ones for them too.

Finding the process therapeutic, Malvica started painting shoes for Ambika’s friends. Encouraged by the positive response, she set up an Instagram page in 2018 to share her work.

She had neither a product catalogue nor funds to invest, so she started by uploading photos from Pinterest, adding the caption “for reference, can be created.”

That’s how she met Shreya, her first client, who requested a Mughal-inspired design on white sneakers and agreed to pay half upfront.

Malvica bought plain sneakers from Amazon and used her paints to create the design. Once the shoes were ready, she searched for an affordable courier service and finally found a local company willing to ship them at a reasonable cost. Orders increased from two or three a week to at least one daily, and her hobby evolved into a small business.

She began reaching out to celebrity pages and their managers via DMs on Instagram, using this strategy to boost her business. It worked, and she landed her first major client from Bigg Boss.

Initially, her product didn’t make it on screen as her first client, Srishti Reddy, was eliminated early. However, luck turned when another contestant, Deepika Kakar, entered the show wearing Malvica’s product and tagged the TQN page on her social media. TQN’s followers jumped from 700 to 2.5k within a day

The first year of TQN was slow, but by the second year, it earned around Rs 1.5 lakh, enabling Malvica to hire her first intern designer. In the third year, TQN’s revenue rose to Rs 2.5 lakh.

“I have always kept a diary,” Malvica recalls. “While casually watching Shark Tank India, I wrote that I would come on the show, and luckily it happened.” In 2021, she appeared on the show with two of her team members, and her mother accompanied her to Mumbai for the recording.

Until her Shark Tank appearance, Malvica’s father didn’t know the full details of her business, but he felt proud when he saw her on the show. In June 2022, TQN received funding from Shark Tank investors Vineeta Singh and Anupam Mittal.

After the Shark Tank funding, Malvica shifted her base from Mathura to Delhi

Till then, Malvica was constantly travelling between Mathura and Delhi to manage her business. With the new funding in place, she finally shifted her base to Delhi in August 2022.

Malvica’s best friend, Saurabh Chaturvedi, whom she worked with at his startup, is now TQN’s co-founder. Saurabh oversees the marketing and technology side, while Malvica leads the creative side.

Malvica, who remains single, is wholly focused on her business, with marriage plans on hold.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, Malvica advises, “If you want to do it, do it ASAP before you regret it.” Despite her busy schedule, she finds small moments of relaxation, whether it’s watching a movie on Netflix or searching for new vendors for TQN. - ©TWL

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