{"id":12094,"date":"2025-06-29T21:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T21:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=12094"},"modified":"2025-06-29T21:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T21:04:05","slug":"pradas-kolhapuri-inspired-sandals-anger-indians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=12094","title":{"rendered":"Prada’s ‘Kolhapuri-inspired’ sandals anger Indians"},"content":{"rendered":"
Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furore among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy.<\/p>\n

Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided design that resembled handmade Kolhapuri slippers with designs dating back to the 12th century.<\/p>\n

A wave of criticism in the media and from lawmakers followed over the Italian brand’s lack of public acknowledgement of the Indian sandal design, which is named after a city in the western state of Maharashtra.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Prada’s owners, responded to the sandal scandal in a letter to a trade group on Friday recognising their Indian heritage.<\/p>\n

“We acknowledge that the sandals… are inspired by traditional Indian handcrafted footwear, with a centuries-old heritage,” Bertelli, Prada’s head of corporate social responsibility, wrote in the letter to the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, seen by<\/p>\n

The sandals are at an early stage of design and it is not certain they will be commercialised, but Prada is open to a “dialogue for meaningful exchange with local Indian artisans” and will arrange follow-up meetings, he wrote.<\/p>\n

A Prada spokesperson issued a statement acknowledging the sandal’s inspiration from India, adding the company has “always celebrated craftsmanship, heritage and design traditions”.<\/p>\n

Prada products are beyond the reach of most Indians. Its men’s leather sandals retail for $844 and up, while the Kolhapuri slippers, sold in Indian shops and street markets, start at about $12.<\/p>\n

India’s luxury market is small but growing fast, with rising numbers of rich people buying Louis Vuitton bags, Lamborghini cars, luxury homes and watches.<\/p>\n

Conversely, Indian culture and crafts are increasingly finding their way into global brand designs. High-end jeweller Bulgari offers a $16,000 Mangalsutra necklace inspired by a chain traditionally worn by married women.<\/p>\n

Bertelli’s homage to Indian design was sent in a response to a complaint from the head of the trade group that represents 3,000 Kolhapuri sandal artisans, as the online uproar gathered momentum.<\/p>\n

“From the dusty lanes of Kolhapur to the glitzy runways of Milan… will the world finally give credit where it’s due?” India’s DNA News posted on X.<\/p>\n

Sambhaji Chhatrapati from the Kolhapur Royal family told Reuters by phone he was upset that craftsmen had not been acknowledged for the “history and heritage of 150 years.”<\/p>\n

Kolhapur-based businessman Dileep More, however, said images of the Prada sandal were bringing cheer to some artisans as they show their traditional product going global.<\/p>\n

“They are happy that someone is recognising their work,” he said. Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luxury fashion powerhouse Prada has acknowledged the ancient Indian roots of its new sandal design after the debut of the open-toe footwear sparked a furore among Indian artisans and politicians thousands of miles from the catwalk in Italy. Images from Prada’s fashion show in Milan last weekend showed models wearing leather sandals with a braided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}