Aretto targets 100 retail touchpoints as India kids’ footwear brand plots global expansion

Mumbai: Aretto, the Indian kids’ footwear brand known for shoes that expand as children grow, is targeting more than 100 retail touchpoints by fiscal 2027 as it shifts from a largely online business to a broader omnichannel and international play.

The company, founded by Satyajit Mittal, opened its first store in Pune and has since accelerated its physical expansion, reaching 30 touchpoints in its second year and targeting more than 65 in the third year. In Pune, its home market, Aretto has opened nine touchpoints to build density, while expanding across northern, western, southern and eastern India.

“Aretto's retail rollout is the clearest signal of where we're headed: 1 store in year one, 30 touchpoints by year two, 65-plus by year three, and 100-plus retail touchpoints targeted by FY2027. We've followed the same approach at each stage, going deep in strong markets, then expanding coverage across the north, west, south and east. Each phase has also lowered our blended acquisition cost and strengthened digital conversion alongside it.”


The move comes as digital customer acquisition becomes more expensive for consumer brands. Aretto said its physical stores are helping reduce its dependence on paid social media while also driving online sales.

“The cost of acquiring attention on social media has gone up for everyone, and it's only going to keep rising. We saw this coming fairly early in our journey, which is part of why we didn't wait to build retail. Starting stores early, first in Pune and then expanding across the north, west, south and east, let us leverage our strongest cities to acquire customers in a way that doesn't sit entirely on paid social. We were never a pure D2C business by design, and that's proven to be an advantage as digital acquisition costs have climbed.”

Aretto’s proposition is built around a patented sole that expands as a child’s foot grows, addressing a problem the company says has long been accepted as a limitation of the kids’ footwear market.

“Sizing was the biggest unsolved problem in kids' footwear. Kids' feet grow every few months, but shoes are manufactured and sold in fixed sizes. Once a kid outgrows their size, comfort is compromised well before the shoe is worn out. Parents were stuck replacing shoes every few months just to keep pace with growth, and manufacturers had to produce and stock far more sizes than any other footwear category needs. It was a real pain point for both sides, and the industry had simply normalised it instead of solving it.”

Mittal said the company wants to build beyond its signature product and establish itself as a design and footwear-technology company.

“From here, the goal is to move from being known for one breakthrough product to building a wider design and innovation-led footwear company, extending Aretto credibly to older kids, deepening distribution where demand already exists, and scaling manufacturing to match.”

The company manufactures in India, including its digitally knitted uppers and injection-moulded soles, and says it is not structurally dependent on imported finished components.

“Aretto's design, product development, sourcing and manufacturing all happen in India, and we're not structurally dependent on imported finished components. That was a deliberate decision, not a provenance badge.”

Aretto is also evaluating international markets, with Mittal saying the company sees its core sizing problem as global rather than India-specific. It is assessing markets before committing to expansion, with local partners and consumer demand among the factors being evaluated.

“International expansion is part of the plan, not a side ambition. The problem we're solving isn't India-specific, and our time at Footwearise in Alicante and the Stride Conference in Portland confirmed how global the conversation on kids' fit and sizing already is. We're evaluating select markets now, but entry will be measured, validating consumer demand, fit requirements and local partners first, rather than treating it as a headline moment.”

The company is also open to raising fresh capital, but says any funding would be directed toward specific growth initiatives including research and development, manufacturing, distribution and international expansion.

“Capital is a tool, not the story. Fresh capital, if raised, will be tied to specific things: R&D, manufacturing, distribution, international validation, not used to subsidise demand. The same discipline applies to revenue and profitability: growth should make the business stronger and bigger at the same time.”