Sachin Tendulkar is a man of precision. The evening before the launch of Ten x You, an athleisure brand that he has co-founded with Karthik Gurumurthy and Karan Arora, the cricketing legend walked into the experiential makeshift nets at the venue in Mumbai and, at one glance, pointed out that those were not 22 yards. The team got a measuring tape and found that it was indeed short by six inches.
Gurumurthy, who previously built both Swiggy Instamart and Swiggy Mall, got a glimpse of how meticulous the former India captain is with details while developing products for the brand over the past year-and-a-half. The Bharat Ratna brought in all his experience, and using the feedback from coaches and experts, suggested changes that he felt would be beneficial to people using the gear to play sport.
Over a decade after his retirement from international cricket, Tendulkar continues to bat for Indian sports. He wants the country to be a sports-playing nation instead of a sports-loving one. Ten x You is a step in that direction. The Bengaluru-headquartered company is backed by Peak XV and Whiteboard Capital. The brand has launched a range of products—shoes, apparel and accessories—with the aim of providing premium quality sports and athleisure wear to players.
In a conversation with Forbes India on the sidelines of the launch on October 10, Tendulkar, who is the chief inspiration officer, and Gurumurthy, the CEO, speak about the core philosophy of the brand, their vision and plans to scale up. Edited excerpts:
Q. What is the reason behind launching Ten x You and getting into the athleisure segment?Sachin Tendulkar: The reason is simple. We keep talking about India as the youngest average age nation in the world. But are we fit and healthy? The answer is ‘no’. Given our sedentary lifestyles, we need to bring in certain changes. And we need to change that from the grassroot level… encourage people to play any sport of their choice and stay active.
We have a tendency to sit back at home, watch television and clap. We love sport. But we are a sport-loving nation, not a sport-playing nation. That transformation has to happen. So, from the grassroot level, we need to encourage children to play. We need to get the younger generation to involve their parents and grandparents in some physical activity. It need not be a 10-mile job for everyone. It could be as simple as walking for a kilometre… for elderly people, just taking a walk. It is about a healthier and fitter India. With our population and average age, can you imagine if we are fit and healthy… the productivity will shoot up like anything, and that is a dream. That is the vision.
Karthik Gurumurthy: From a brand angle, what we always wanted to do was sports. All the sports brands, beyond a point, are looking at serving products for just elite athletes. It has become performance-driven… but for a large section of people or novices who are saying, ‘I am going to start an activity from tomorrow’, what’s required are the features of comfort. It has not been looked into. That is one area which we wanted to solve. And that is the main philosophy with which we started Ten x You.
In the athleisure space, we follow a two-pronged strategy. One is a beachhead strategy, where we believe that if you win in a sport, you get the credibility from the customers, wherein they trust your technology and products. Look at any international brand, D2C brands, or any brand which has done well over the last few years… you win in a niche where you establish your technical credibility and then get into the larger athleisure space. We believe the athleisure segment is very crowded. So, you’ll just be another brand. But if you establish technical credibility in one place, it’s easy to grow.
Q. What was your role in the product development?Tendulkar: I’ve spent 18 months developing this. Using all my 24-year experience on the field, I have shared my thoughts with the designing team. There are a number of professionals involved—a couple of guys from Australia for designing the logo, a couple of guys from Germany for the construction of the shoe and a company from California, which had great exposure in making high-class insoles. We’ve spent a lot of time on this and eventually the products have been satisfying. We have had youngsters trying these and the coaches too had a lot of feedback to offer. We've incorporated all of that.
Q. As a first-hand user of the products, what did you think of them?Tendulkar: With regard to the cricket shoe, the top spike was not in the position that I wanted. We’ve moved it further out. It sounds easy, but nobody had done that before. You get the grip, and that final push… it gives you that thrust to move forward. Today, line decisions have become critical. Centimetres could be the difference between winning and losing.
Also, data show that the width of Indian feet is marginally wider, and we are also flat-footed. For flat feet, we have insoles and for wider feet, we have made our shoes a little wider. The insoles are for performance and comfort, so the energy released from those give you that bounce vis-a-vis a lifestyle shoe. In our conditions, our feet swell up. Even beyond cricketing hours, you should be comfortable wearing them.
Also, we have a spike at the back… I've never seen anyone use that. We’ve tried to use it because sometimes you land on the back part of your foot, and if the outfield is wet, you slip. This will protect you from that. And it is kind of a floating spike. It will not come in contact with the surface. It will have a role to play only when something goes wrong. The other spikes are 12 mm, that one is nine mm. We've intentionally done that. And we also have grooves that act like air brakes. So, when you are sliding forward, they help you slow down.
I have used these in February and March in the nets. So, these are tried-and-tested.
Q. How closely involved was Tendulkar in this entire journey?Gurumurthy: He is someone who looks at 100 percent precision and believes that we should keep getting 1 percent better every day. He had numerous feedback on the products—all the colour codes, for instance, have been approved by him. He brings in all his experience. The world knows him as an astute cricketer, but he’s actually a great sportsman in general. His ability to observe… like what happens in golf or tennis is remarkable. He brings in all those features and then simplifies them for the common people to understand. He has been deeply involved in everything.
Q. What are the brand’s five-year goals in terms of growth, innovation and category expansion?Gurumurthy: In terms of where we want to be in six months or so, we want to get into offline and set up our own stores. We are expanding there. There are multiple international markets—like the Middle East where we have got a lot of interest. The UK is another market where we have received a lot of interest in terms of big brands wanting to partner with us. We believe that there are two to three other categories which are fairly nascent and have not been tapped. We want to crack training as a category. We believe barefoot running is picking up a lot in the West. That trend is going to catch up in India. So that is one more area.
Q. How does Ten x You plan to differentiate itself from the competitors?Gurumurthy: We have products that we call as sport-ready lifestyle. We are not a pure lifestyle brand. People need products which are versatile. Our whole idea is that we want to do a sport-ready lifestyle brand. The second idea is stemming from the customers we are approaching. The customers we are talking to are novices. It’s not about saving three seconds in their run… they are looking for super comfortable products. All of us, including our partners, work on that aspect.
Q. Many sportspersons in India and abroad have gotten into this space. What do you think about this trend? Gurumurthy: Anyone who does this has to be authentic. We truly believed that our first set of products should be cricket. Because if you think about it, Sachin is the God of cricket. India today is a powerhouse in cricket in the global space. And if a brand in cricket has to come out, it has to come from India. And it has to come from the God of cricket. So, the credibility needs to be very, very solid. And if that is possible, then I think the whole celebrity angle works.
First Published: Oct 15, 2025, 11:17
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