The Problem
India generates 7,800 kilotonnes of textile waste every year. Only 15% gets recycled. The rest sits in landfills, chokes up river bodies, or lives in some forgotten drawer.
Sports makes it worse, approximately 3 to 5 lakh people play turf sports every single day across India. Every tournament means a fresh batch of jerseys. Multiply that across the country and the numbers are hard to even wrap your head around. We're using up resources to make things that barely get used.
Our Approach
But all that waste doesn't have to be waste. Every one of those jerseys could have a second life if someone just built the system for it.
Every Hichka jersey is made from recycled PET bottles. We turn plastic waste into high-performance dry fit fabric. Same quality, same comfort. Just without pulling new resources out of the ground.
But making better jerseys doesn't mean much if they still end up forgotten two months later. So we built a take-back programme. Done with your jerseys? Send them back. Free collection, no minimum, and a discount on your next order. We hand them over to our NGO partners to give it another life. Bottles become jerseys. Jerseys become bags. The circle keeps going.
Why Solve it?
Sports has always been a big part of our lives. We grew up watching our dad and our aunts and uncles play in local cricket tournaments. And over time we noticed a pattern. Jerseys get ordered, worn once or twice, and then quietly disappear into a drawer forever.
We actually counted once. Just in our family, four players, 25 jerseys lying around. Then we looked at our dad's friend circle. Seven adults, four kids. Almost 300 jerseys. Used once and completely forgotten. That's one small group in one corner of Mumbai. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And you start wondering how many families across the country are doing the exact same thing without realising.
But all that waste doesn't have to be waste. Every one of those jerseys could have a second life, and thats what we are doing.
From Bottle to Jersey
Six steps that turn yesterday's plastic into tomorrow's kit.
Collect and sort
Used PET bottles gathered, stripped of labels and caps. Clear plastic sorted out ready for processing.
Shred and wash
Bottles are crushed into small flakes, then rigorously washed and dried until completely pure.
Melt and extrude
Flakes are melted down and pushed through a spinneret, forming long continuous plastic fibres.
Spin into yarn
Fibres are stretched, cooled, and twisted into polyester yarn, then wound onto spools ready to weave.
Dye the fabric
Yarn is knitted into fabric rolls, then dyed using low-impact processes to lock in your team's colours without harmful runoff.
Cut and sew
Fabric is precision-cut to size, stitched together, quality-checked, and packed. Your jersey is ready to ship.
FOUNDER PORTRAIT
Built by the next
generation of athletes
Hichka is founded by Kaavya and Kahaan Shah, We are 14-year-old siblings from Mumbai. We grew up playing sports, and we built Hichka because we believed the jerseys we wore shouldn't cost the planet. we handle everything from customer relationships to the ordering experience.
K
Kaavya Shah
CO-FOUNDER
Leads customer relationships, brand building, and social marketing. Mangeges the sustainibillaty aspect of the company. Passionate about making sustainability feel like a natural part of sports culture.
To know more about Kaavya - Visit Kaavyashah.com
K
Kahaan Shah
CO-FOUNDER
Leads the ordering flow, operations, and website development. Focused on making the customisation experience as smooth as possible for every organiser.
To know more about Kahaan - Visit Kahaanshah.com