Fight for the sole: The Prada controversy may have put it in the spotlight but the Kolhapuri chappal carries the footprint of 800 years of history

Indian Express

5 days ago

Dressed in a spotless white ganji and trousers, a crystal chain around his neck and spectacles in place, Ravindra Powar, a chappal craftsman from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, begins every morning by bowing to the tools of his trade. Whispering the name of his kulguru, he touches his forehead to a hammer, an awl, a last and a laadi, a stone slab that has been in his family for 70 years. 'Our entire charmakar community, which makes chappals, worships their implements. We pray that the tools will not hurt us during the day,' says Powar.
He works sitting on a chipped stone floor outside his house in Subhash Nagar, one of the centres of chappal production in Kolhapur. Clothes hang from wires over him and stuffed sacks are piled around. The sun struggles to brighten walls that are not so much grey as bleached of all colour. This is where Powar and his wife Sangeeta spend 12-15 hours making intricately decorated chappals each day, from 9 am, getting up only for toilet breaks.
In the second week of July, the workspace had some important guests — a high-level leadership team from the luxury Italian design house Prada. 'They saw everything. Using their mobile phones, they took photos and videos of us as we worked. I cannot speak English so one of the local people explained to them how we make chappals. Prada wale aaye toh hamara maan badh gaya (The visit by the Prada team increased our respect),' says Powar.
One lakh workers, spread across four districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka, sustain the Rs 1,200-crore Kolhapuri chappal industry, crafting one of India's most identifiable footwear. 'Kolhapuri' has ballooned into a generic term for leather slip-ons that bite, chafe and don't enjoy the rain but lend an ethnic touch to an outfit. In rooms across India, a pair of Kolhapuri chappals can mark out the wearer as a person of culture. The only other footwear with similar reputation are the Punjabi jooti, Rajasthani mojri and Kutch slippers.
The workers in Kolhapur don't learn the craft, they inherit it as children growing up in houses where the air smells of pelt and polish. 'Ek ghar poora uss ek chappal ke peeche kaam karta hai (An entire house works on a single chappal). The women are involved in braiding and stitching,' says Rohit Gavali, a wholesaler and retailer.
Many have seen the reels of Prada's Men's Spring-Summer 2026 collection at Milan Fashion Week on June 22 in which models wearing flat sandals, similar to Kolhapuri chappals, walked the ramp without referencing Kolhapur. Prada then became shorthand for cultural misappropriation and plagiarism by the West.
'The design that Prada has launched is the 'moja shape'. The front of the chappal is rounded, like your toes when you wear socks or moja. Woh north side zyada chalti hai (It does well in north India),' says Gavali, unhooking such a pair from the the carpet of chappals that covers the walls of his shop, Tip Top Footwear, in Kolhapur's historic footwear retail market, Chappal Gali.
The chappal makers took special note of Prada's price tag, approximately Rs 1.20 lakh. There was shock, amusement and anger. At Chappal Gali, they sell a pair for under Rs 1,000. A craftsperson earns between Rs 100 and Rs 300 a day. 'Who can survive in this economy with Rs 9,000-Rs 10,000 a month?, ' says an artisan. 'I told the Prada team to give me the work, I am ready to do it. You can sell the chappal for Rs 1.20 lakh and pay me Rs 10,000 a pair,' adds Gavali.
In a letter sent to Prada on June 26, the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MACCIA) wrote: 'Kolhapuri chappals represent centuries-old craftsmanship rooted in the cultural fabric of Maharashtra. These products are not only symbolic of regional identity but also support the livelihoods of thousands of artisans and families in the Kolhapur region and the surrounding districts.'
Besides, the traditional handcrafted leather sandal was awarded the Geographical Index (GI) tag by the Government of India in 2019. Prada admitted that its design was inspired by traditional Kolhapuris and sent a team to Kolhapur to meet artisans and sellers. MACCIA is pushing for reparations. Kolhapur's workers aren't holding their breath but they are curious if Prada will walk a mile in their chappals.
A 12th-century footprint
According to the Government of India's Geographical Indications Journal, 'The origin of Kolhapuri Chappal can be traced back to the 12th-century rule of King Bijjal of Bidar district and his Prime Minister Viswaguru Basavanna (Basaveswara) who wanted to create a casteless society and remove the stigma associated with the chamar community.' The first sandals made with bag tanned leather looked like the Kolhapuri but the footwear did not get its name until the beginning of the 20th century.
To this day, the geographical area for the production of Kolhapuris are Sholapur, Kolhapur and Sangli districts of Maharashtra, and Dharwad, Belgaum, Bagalkot and Bijapur districts of Karnataka. According to the Geographical Indications Journal, the footwear got its name because the chappals that were produced and traded in Kolhapur were inspiring the other districts of Bombay to make similar types of designs from bag tanned leather.
Kolhapur is divided into old and new. There are remnants of a 12th-century basalt stone fortification that can still be seen. Beyond the fort walls, considered the outskirts in medieval times, lived the Barah Balutedars or the 12 craft guilds, each responsible for a certain type of work that they could barter with the others.
The chamar or charmakar was one of the Balutedars. They were engaged in making leather goods. 'A survey carried out in 1892 mentioned that hundreds of charmakar existed in Kolhapur. The Graham's Report of 1894 also notes the presence of leather artisans,' says Tejaswini Chandan Mirajkar, an architect and co-convenor of INTACH Kolhapur.
When Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj IV came on the throne in 1874, Kolhapur began to take its current form. 'He wanted to develop Kolhapur's infrastructure. You can see that he has had a lasting impact on people even today, because he brought about some revolutionary changes,' says Mirajkar.
Kolhapur, nestled in India's sugar bowl, is among the wealthiest districts in Maharashtra, with one of the highest per capita incomes in India. Its markets bustle with legacy products, such as GI-tagged jaggery and GI-tagged silver jewellery. The Kolhapuri saaj gold jewellery has applied for a GI tag. The well-built young men who train at the many taalims or wrestling academies owe it to Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj IV who encouraged kusti. The now-gutted Palace Theatre was built by the ruler in 1915 as a centre for the arts.
'There were a number of social changes that Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj IV brought about, like trying to eradicate caste bias. Using his power and position, he went out and had tea from the shop of a low-caste person. That broke the stigma a little. Because of this, he was a patron for the charmakars. He was also a patron of the Kolhapuri chappal. The chappal handicraft and the infrastructure development of the city went hand in hand,' says Mirajkar. Chappal Gali was set up by Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj IV around 100 years ago to give Kolhapur an identity as a chappal-manufacturing hub of India.
The chappal industry has found an iconic way to remember Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj IV. Ask for the most fancy chappals for men and you will be offered the Shahu Chappal, an elaborate, richly embellished piece fit for the king it is named after.
A walk with legacy
Around four types of leather are used in making every chappal. The tough bull hide is for the sole, buffalo leather for the insole. Buffalo tails are pieced and crafted into toe straps while the skin of goats gets shaped into the top belt and traditional, decorative details, such as the veni or braid.
Caste is seamlessly stitched into the process as each chappal passes through at least 25 pairs of hands. The tannery workers are dhors, a community that deals with dead cattle, skinning and tanning. In the next stage, charmakars craft chappals from the tanned leather that the dhors provide. Dhors and charmakar, marginalised and historically oppressed, are now a part of India's Scheduled Castes. Both communities are involved in the final step — marketing the chappals. After all the tanneries of Kolhapur city were closed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board around 2015, hereditary tannery owners and experts, such as Sanjay Tapase, a dhor himself, has taken up the nearest familiar job, of selling chappals. 'Our work is considered smelly and unhygienic and looked down upon. The new generation is not coming into this profession,' says Gavali, a charmakar who has an MBA degree. Now in the hands of ageing artisans, the Kolhapuri craft is, possibly, on its last legs.
An untapped potential
'Prada has shown Kolhapur what is possible,' says Anurag Kokitkar, who has been researching Kolhapuris since 2013 and founded a startup, Paytaan, to revive the authenticity of the footwear. He presented the Kolhapuri tradition to delegates at the G20 summit in Mumbai and has exported chappals to more than 17 countries, from the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Ukraine to Australia, the US and Canada.
'We have to focus on quality and consistency. The ecosystem, however, is not very enthusiastic to grow, develop or change. They are okay because everyone is coming to their door and asking for the product. They shifted to cheap raw materials and eliminated all the crafting work three or four decades back,' he says.
In Chappal Gali, lined with almost 100 shops, there is no dearth of designs for every budget. When the Prada team visited, the shopkeepers showed off their prized ware– chappals that can be rolled to pocket size; chappals embedded with 100 Scorpion Seeds that make a crunching sound when a wearer walks; Kolhapuris with pointed toes called Aamdar Chappal favoured by MLAs. These, however, seem lost among chappals aimed at budget tourists, who are lured by inexpensive pieces of the purists frown upon. 'Today, the majority of cheap quality Kolhapuri lookalikes are being made outside Kolhapur, at major footwear hubs all over India. Since retailers everywhere in India are selling 90 per cent low-quality 'Kolhapuris' that do not adhere to tradition, I see Prada as a mixed blessing. They have drawn attention to the safeguards that were lacking in the industry. This is sad because we are an 800-year-old tradition,' says Kokitkar.
Anurag Kokitkar, a Kolhapuri expert and founder of a company, Paytan, to popularise authentic chappals says that spotting a fake Kolhapuri is pretty easy. As all the common chappals that are sold in the name of the Kolhapuri are fake or a cheap alternatives, it is spotting an authentic Kolhapuri that is the real challenge as they are rare. Based on the GI specifications of the Kolhapuri chappals, here are some pointers:
Shades of Meaning: Vegetable tanned leather has a distinct colour colour, usually beige. This is true for all parts of the chappal, from sole to the uppers and heel. Any other colour, and you have a fake at your feet.
Art lies in the details: Original Kolhapuri chappals have no nails or nylon threads. Every part is stitched by hand with vegetable tanned leather threads. Nothing is punched or pressed to look like a crafting element.
Ear for tradition: Kolhapuri chappals have a unique feature– an ear-like flap on the sides called kaan. In past decades, when the Western Ghats were full of forests, the kaan protected the tender curve of the feet. It is the ear that connects the belt to the top sole.
Braided by hand: Are there delicate braid work embellishing the chappal? An authentic chappal will always have handmade leather braids, often as thin as human hair, on the upper belt.
Span of life: A fake Kolhapuri will not last longer than four-six months. There will also be mould and the fakes might easily break in the monsoon or if stored in a humid place. Authentic Kolhapuris don't attract fungus, and can last up to six years if maintained well.
Check the tag: If the price is too good to be true, the chappals are likely to be fake. The cost of raw materials and craftsmanship of an authentic pair of chappals means that quality comes at a steep price. 'I have seen 'Kolhapuris' selling for about Rs 100 in wholesale rate. These are made from leather rejects and are not authentic,' says Kokitkar.
Dipanita Nath is interested in the climate crisis and sustainability. She has written extensively on social trends, heritage, theatre and startups. She has worked with major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India and Mint. ... Read More