Last week, we formalised a collaboration agreement with KICL in Chennai, one of the most prominent industrial groups in India’s footwear sector and a key player within its manufacturing ecosystem.

This is not just another partnership.

Kothari is an industrial group with real production capacity, established infrastructure and an active role across the footwear value chain in Tamil Nadu, one of the country’s leading manufacturing hubs.

This agreement, driven by Red21 together with our partner for India CMI Machines, will lead to the launch of Footwear Development Coaching Centres in India, designed to accelerate the digitalisation of development and production processes through structured professional training in technical footwear development, pattern engineering and production workflows, powered by Icad technology.

Through this initiative, Red21 will provide the technology, training framework and technical support required to integrate digital tools and industrial-grade workflows into the learning environment, bringing training closer to factory reality and raising the overall technical standard of the sector.

This agreement lays the foundation for a sustained evolution of the technical footwear ecosystem in India.

That a group of KICL’s stature has chosen to partner with Red21 and adopt the Icad solutions further strengthens our position as an international technology partner within the global footwear industry.

This marks another important step in our consolidation in Asia and a clear sign that the industry is moving towards more integrated, digital and production-connected development models.

We continue to build alliances that connect technology, industry and talent on a global scale.