Indians are seeing red, and it’s not the festive kind, after Italian fashion giant Prada strutted Kolhapuri chappals down the Milan Fashion Week ramp, boldly renaming them “leather flat sandals” and tagging them with an eye-watering price of Rs 1.16 lakh.
Out of 56 ensembles in Prada’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, at least seven featured the iconic Kolhapuris. These are centuries-old footwear traditionally handcrafted in Maharashtra, and were GI-tagged by the government in 2019. While fashion insiders may call it “inspired styling”, Indians online are calling it what it feels like — cultural theft in couture packaging.
The backlash was swift, loud and laced with satire. Actor and comedian Vir Das chimed in on X about the same. He posted, “If you spend 1300 dollars on Pradas ripped off Kolhapuri chappals, the fee should include a visit from an Indian mother who shows up and beats you with them.”
Netizens echoed his sentiment. “Prada’s Rs 1.2 lakh Kolhapuri chappals are a shameless cash grab,” one user wrote, pointing out that the original handmade versions cost anywhere between Rs 300 and Rs 1,500 in local Kolhapur markets.
Others called out the erasure of the Chamar community, the artisans who have handcrafted these sandals for generations, accusing Prada of stripping the footwear of its cultural context and stamping a designer label on history.
“No credit. No acknowledgment. Just pure cultural theft dressed in luxury branding,” one post read.
From “global fashion statement” to “glorified knock-off”, the chappal controversy is becoming the latest example of how global fashion often borrows, and sometimes bulldozes, indigenous heritage for profit. For now, Kolhapuri chappals remain India’s pride, even if they have been Prada-fied at Milan prices.