When Prada despatched a number of pairs of brown sandals with distinctive toe rings and complicated stitching down its menswear runway in Milan final month, observers had been fast to level out their resemblance to a centuries-old piece of Indian heritage.
The storied Italian fashion home might have offered the footwear as a brand new luxurious creation, but many in India merely noticed a pair of Kolhapuri chappals — conventional hand-crafted sandals with roots stretching again to the twelfth or thirteenth century.
Prada’s preliminary failure to acknowledge the inspiration behind the footwear, which had earlier been described by the model merely as “leather flat sandals,” in line with the Guardian, sparked fierce and ongoing debate over cultural appropriation. Critics accused the label of erasing the legacy of Indian artisans, with voices throughout social media calling out what they noticed as blatant design theft.
Within every week, Prada had acknowledged in a letter to an Indian commerce group that the sandals in its males’s Spring-Summer 2026 assortment had been certainly “inspired by traditional Indian footwear.” In an announcement to NCS, the model stated it has “always celebrated craftsmanship, heritage and design.” Prada later added that it had met artisanal footwear producers in India “to discuss potential opportunities for future collaboration.”
Prada’s readiness to confront the controversy may be a mirrored image of the fashion business’s rising curiosity in India’s luxurious shoppers — and a reluctance to anger them. But the episode additionally epitomizes how Western labels have usually struggled to meaningfully have interaction with the nation’s crafts and tradition.
India’s luxurious market is on a dramatic ascent, estimated to broaden from $7.73 billion in 2023 to $11.3 billion by 2028 — a charge that will probably outpace a lot of the world’s main luxurious markets, in line with world consulting agency Kearney.
This projected development is fueled by a rising center class, elevated urbanization and a brand new era of brand-conscious, internationally minded younger shoppers. But at present’s Indian luxurious shopper is “no longer a singular archetype,” in line with the celebrated Indian fashion designer Gaurav Gupta.
“We’re seeing a beautifully diverse audience, from second-gen industrialist families to first-gen digital entrepreneurs, artists and global citizens — who are all looking for something deeper than just a logo,” he stated in an electronic mail.
Major brands have been investing closely in response. Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Valentino are among the many fashion homes which have opened flagship shops in Mumbai or Delhi within the final three years. Others have collaborated with Indian labels or creatives on designs meant to talk extra authentically to native audiences.
Some of those brands are “adapting beautifully,” Gupta stated, but the “real disconnect happens when brands view India as a commercial opportunity rather than a cultural dialogue,” he added.
“The Indian buyer wants to feel seen. It’s no longer enough to just open a flagship in Mumbai, you need to speak the emotional and visual language of the market.”
Indian inspiration is as important to Western fashion as pajamas and Madras plaid. But accusations of cultural appropriation have intensified lately because of the development of web entry within the nation, the rise of social media platforms and a surging sense of cultural delight.
“A lot of Indian people, including designers and artisans, are aware of their rights,” stated Toolika Gupta (no relation), director on the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD) in Jaipur, in an electronic mail, including: “They want acknowledgement of their legacy.”
In 2019, fashion home Gucci sparked controversy with its “Indy Full Turban,” bought for $790 on Nordstrom’s web site. The blue headpiece carefully resembled the normal Sikh turban, prompting backlash from Sikh communities in India and elsewhere. It was ultimately faraway from the web site, with Nordstrom shortly apologizing amid the backlash.
Just this 12 months, the clothes firm Reformation was criticized for selling a shirt, skirt and scarf that reminded many South Asians of the lehenga, an Indian garment consisting of a protracted skirt, prime and a dupatta (scarf), a staple of Indian fashion for hundreds of years and usually draped throughout a girl’s chest. Some took challenge with Reformation’s lack of acknowledgement for the garment. One TikTok person joked: “My girl is about to go strut the streets of India… Give credit where credit is due, this is literally a lehenga with a dupatta.” She additionally famous that the pastel-colored shirt, skirt and scarf had been strikingly much like lehengas worn by Bollywood celebrities within the early 2000s.
In an announcement to The Washington Post, Reformation stated the design in query was impressed by a Nineteen Nineties-era John Galliano robe and scarf set owned by the mannequin Devon Lee Carlson, with whom it collaborated on the gathering.
H&M, in the meantime, lately got here underneath fireplace for a sleeveless sheer “long camisole” prime and trouser set that many social media customers likened to the salwar kameez, a standard Indian tunic and pant.
In an announcement to NCS, H&M stated the design took “inspiration from current fashion trends like dresses layered over pants and the popularity of sheer pieces, as well as various plays on transparency and movement.”
It’s not simply labels which have sparked controversy. Frustration spilled onto TikTok final 12 months after the fashion rental firm Bipty posted a now-deleted video that includes White ladies carrying sheer shawls draped throughout their chests, describing the look as “very European effortlessly chic.”
South Asian customers on the platform instantly famous the similarities between the scarf and a dupatta. Many posted their personal movies draping dupattas and mockingly dubbing them “Scandinavian scarves,” utilizing humor and irony to focus on the obvious erasure and misrepresentation of Indian heritage.
Bipty didn’t reply to NCS’s request for remark.
“With Instagram receipts and Gen Z rage, the tolerance for bad takes is zero,” the nameless commentator behind the favored Instagram account Diet Sabya wrote in an electronic mail to NCS. (Diet Sabya, which pulls inspiration from the established social account Diet Prada, usually highlights fashion business missteps, together with cultural appropriation.)
“What once went unnoticed or unchallenged is now getting called out in real-time,” the e-mail added. “Someone in Delhi has the same access to discourse as someone in London. So, when a show uses a sacred motif incorrectly, the backlash is fast, loud and fully deserved.”
High fashion’s relationship with Indian artisans stretches again to a minimum of the seventeenth century, when Europe’s royal tailors sought out textiles like cotton and silk from the subcontinent. Over centuries, this cross-continental change has reworked Indian motifs from prized curiosities into ubiquitous components of Western model.
According to IICD’s Gupta, textiles akin to chintz and paisley are deeply rooted in India’s wealthy creative traditions and have lengthy impressed world fashion, although their origins are actually incessantly ignored.
But India isn’t just a supply of inspiration for luxurious fashion — it’s additionally an integral a part of its provide chains. Today, a major phase of the business’s manufacturing is outsourced to ateliers, embroiderers and textile producers in India.
Yet, regardless of Indian artisans’ foundational position, their creations are sometimes shipped to Europe for remaining meeting and can thus be labeled as being “made” in Europe.
This type of erasure, in line with Imran Amed, founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the business publication The Business of Fashion, has “reduced India to a manufacturing hub while Europe gets the cultural and economic credit.”
“In India, where craft is livelihood for millions, this distinction matters even more. It’s not just about symbolism — it’s about economic justice and dignity,” he stated by way of electronic mail.
The backlash Prada confronted “wasn’t just about a sandal,” Amed added. “It was a broader reaction to a long history of erasure and under-acknowledgment.”
Homegrown designers are serving to to vary issues.
Indian fashion is having a placing influence on purple carpets worldwide — and never solely on the backs of Bollywood stars. Western celebrities are more and more embracing Indian designers, too.
Cardi B wore a custom-made, electrical blue, hooded sculptural robe by Gaurav Gupta to the 2023 Grammys, whereas Zendaya walked the carpet in a shimmering, hand-embroidered blue sari robe by Rahul Mishra at a high-profile occasion in Mumbai months earlier. Kim Kardashian, in the meantime, has worn designs by the likes of Manish Malhotra and Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who final 12 months grew to become the primary Indian fashion designer to attend the unique Met Gala in New York.
“It’s a powerful shift, almost like we’re reclaiming our own narrative,” Gaurav Gupta instructed NCS. “Designers from India are now presenting on the global stage not as ‘ethnic’ alternatives, but as innovators with our own language, our own shapes, our own ideologies. We’re not adapting to fit in anymore; we’re expressing to stand out.”
For many Indians, the Kolhapuri chappals that Prada stated it was “inspired” by characterize the ingenuity and artistry of Kolhapur, a historic metropolis nestled within the nation’s western Maharashtra state.
Typically crafted from regionally sourced buffalo conceal and tanned utilizing conventional vegetable dyes, the sandals may successfully stand up to the relentless warmth and rugged terrain of the Deccan Plateau. The distinctive toe loop, which is hooked up to the T-strap, helped maintain them near the wearers’ ft.
Cutting throughout generational and social divides, the Kolhapuri chappal embodies each the enduring spirit of rural India and a bridge to modern fashion. The shoe is protected by a coveted “geographical indication” tag — just like the one guaranteeing Champagne is simply produced in France’s Champagne area — that, in concept, safeguards this image of Indian heritage from copycats.
“It’s something truly Indian,” stated Shubhika Sharma, the distinguished Indian fashion designer and founding father of the label Papa Don’t Preach, in a video interview. Prada’s preliminary failure to acknowledge the Indian artisans behind the design amounted to a “missed opportunity for Indian craftsmanship,” Sharma added.
About 10,000 artisan households in Kolhapur are engaged within the chappal commerce, in line with native media studies, although a lot of them battle in poor situations and earn low wages.
In India, Kolhapuri chappals can retail for as little as $5 or as a lot as $100, relying on the standard of leather-based and degree of workmanship. While Prada’s sandals had not hit the market on the time of final month’s controversy, the posh fashion home’s footwear usually retail at costs starting from $700 to properly over $2,000.
For Sharma, “everything just boils down to respect,” she stated. “Was due respect given to the creator, to the person who originated it, to the culture that originated it?”
Some Western labels have confirmed higher at partaking with Indian audiences than others. In 2023, Dior made headlines by internet hosting a landmark runway show at Mumbai’s historic Gateway of India, unveiling a Pre-Fall assortment that celebrated the subcontinent’s artistry. The assortment featured Banarasi brocade, mirror work, tie-dye detailing, Nehru collars and kurta tailoring — motifs deeply rooted in Indian custom and craftsmanship.
Many of the embroideries and textiles on the runway had been made by the Mumbai atelier Chanakya International, which was credited for its position. The present was extensively hailed as a respectful homage, with Vogue India’s fashion director Anaita Shroff Adajania describing it as “a thank you to India.”
Amed, from The Business of Fashion, in the meantime, known as the collaboration between Chanakya International and Maria Grazia Chiuri, then Dior’s artistic director, as “thoughtful… not performative,” including: “Chiuri hasn’t just sourced embroidery from India; she’s spotlighted the artisans, acknowledged the lineage of the craft, and in doing so, helped shift perceptions of where luxury value is created.”
Similarly, final month, Nike launched its first collaboration with an Indian fashion label, the Delhi-based model NorBlack NorWhite, unveiling a vibrant vary of sportswear impressed by historic tie-dye strategies. The transfer was broadly celebrated by social media customers in India, a rustic through which Nike has lengthy struggled to make industrial inroads.
For Diet Sabya’s founder, nonetheless, far more should be finished to make sure real recognition for Indian expertise and traditions.
“When India is being eyed as the next big luxury market, you can’t keep treating it like an exotic pitstop,” they stated. “While a few brands are finally acknowledging us as the global textile powerhouse we are — it’s still crumbs. Visibility is a start. But equity is the end goal.”