Celebrating a thousand-year-old craft overlooked by the fashion industry

Artisans in Kolhapur, India, have been hand-making distinctive Kolhapuri sandals for a thousand years. It’s a craft with spiritual roots that has been passed down and nurtured over many generations. So when Prada’s SS26 menswear show featured sandals that were strikingly similar to Kolhapuris, but gave no credit to their origins or makers, it sparked outrage in India that soon made headlines globally.

Kalapuri, a house of artisans who make the sandals every day, published a beautiful yet constructive response: The Kolhapuri, a handcrafted book documenting the craft’s long journey and the artisans behind it. Created alongside VML India, the book was sent as an invitation to Prada’s designers to engage with the tradition more deeply.

“This was not just about a sandal. We are talking about a thousand-year legacy,” Kalpesh Patankar, VML India’s group CCO at the time. Patankar discusses the book’s tangible outcomes, and how its form and contents honoured the artisans’ craft and perspectives, placing them back at the heart of the story where they belong.

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