Enterprising CU Coventry students create hi-tech trainer brand

Two CU Coventry marketing students have teamed up to launch 'Exzite' - promising hi-tech footwear and fashion.

Andrei Iordan, 25, and Svetoslav Lichev, 34, founded the company while studying at the same time, after spotting a gap in the trainer market.

The trainers and clothes will incorporate blockchain technology from a company called ReCheck, which has never been used in a fashion brand before.

Wearers will be able to scan their trainers and clothes using ReCheck’s smartphone app, which proves their authenticity and identifies each item as being unique.

Andrei said: “All of our products will use this technology. It means every item of clothing will have a digital passport.

“This gives our products a unique identity, and owners will be able to upload different facts about their clothes to ReCheck to personalise them even more.

“It also proves our products are real. The market is full of fakes at the moment, so this technology will counter that.

“As far as we know, no other clothing or footwear company is doing this, so we’re confident we can make a success of Exzite.”

Their trainers are being manufactured by a company in East Asia after Andrei and Svetoslav’s design impressed them.

Two prototypes of trainers have already been made – the ‘X’ and the ‘Moonbow’ – and a third is currently in development.

And once they have graduated, Andrei and Svetoslav are hoping to find fellow students, especially those with a passion for design, to collaborate with.

They also plan to raise money to design new products and manufacture them through crowdfunding.

Svetoslav said: “We want to invite students to work with us and utilise their strengths. For example, Andrei was better on the marketing side of things, but my strength lies in sales and my relationships with suppliers and manufacturers.

“So if a student has a passion for something like design, we’d be happy to chat with them and see what they can do. It doesn’t matter what degree they’re studying.

“We already have ten students who are interested in working with us, but once we graduate in July we’re hoping to work with many more from CU Coventry.

“We’re not focused on profit – we’d like people to invest in us because they share in our vision.”

Both Andrei and Svetoslav said their time at CU Coventry helped give them the skills and confidence they needed to create their brand.