A Sunset Industry for India making Millions Abroad.
Prada just slapped a ₹1 lakh tag on a Kolhapuri chappal .. Except they didn’t call it that.
There was no mention of Kolhapuri. No nod to the GI tag (granted in 2019). No credit to the artisan communities in India who’ve been crafting the design for generations. Just another “minimalist leather sandal” – rebranded, resold, and recontextualised on a European runway.
Firstly, it’s 2025. Giving credit isn’t optional. It’s reparative. Prada had a choice. They could’ve credited the design and used their platform to highlight Indian craft in a moment of shared global attention. Instead, they chose theft.
But what unsettles me more than Prada’s plunder is the deeper cracks in how India values – or fails to value – its own cultural capital, due to which we can’t really hold annyone accountable.
Let’s break it down.
Most policymakers in India dismiss crafts as a “sunset industry.” But if this is sunset, it’s glowing bright in Milan. While India sidelines its cultural economy, the global luxury market is turning our legacy into millions.
Europe protects its wines and cheese with institutional power and trade muscle. India’s cultural IP, by contrast, is left exposed.
Here’s the crux of the problem:
Kolhapuri chappals are protected by a Geographical Indication tag, but GI only protects the name, not the design. So unless Prada calls them “Kolhapuris,” they’re legally in the clear – even if the design is a near replica.
Let’s zoom out for a moment. According to WIPO’s 2024 IP Facts and Figures:
- China has over 9,000 registered GIs
- The EU collectively has over 6,000
- India? Just 478.
In a country with over 3,000 documented crafts and countless regional food traditions, that number isn’t just low, it’s criminal. Worse, even the GIs we do register exist as footnotes and are rarely enforced, marketed, or monetised.
Kolhapuri vs. Champagne: The Same IP Used But Vastly Different Outcomes
France guards Champagne like its national treasure. Protected under the EU’s powerful GI regime and enforced in over 120 countries, it has:
- A dedicated trade body (Comité Champagne) that monitors misuse, sues violators, and promotes its identity
- Legal muscle to pursue brands in countries like the U.S., Brazil, and Russia for misusing its identity
- And a place in France’s export strategy, sold as terroir, luxury, and national pride
Compare that to India, where GI-tagged crafts barely make it past local exhibitions, and often lack the legal or financial capacity to fight misuse, especially on global platforms.
India’s IP Needs Muscle. We Built It. We Should Own It.
If we’re serious about protecting Indian design, here’s what we need:
- Strengthen IP laws to include not just names, but visual identity, motifs, designs, and forms
- Create licensing and co-creation platforms so that when global brands want to use Indian heritage, they partner and pay fairly
- Rebrand GIs from bureaucratic labels to cultural trademarks – worthy of investment, storytelling, and market presence
- Integrate cultural IP into India’s export and nation branding strategy
- Build enforceable cross-border IP ecosystems, including recognition treaties with the EU and beyond
Until then, let’s stop being surprised when global brands cherry-pick our heritage and call it innovation.
If India won’t invest in building cultural capital, someone else will. And they’ll sell it back to us – at 1000x the price, and zero acknowledgment.
Every time a global brand sells Indian craft without credit, it’s not just a missed opportunity, it’s a transfer of value, narrative, and power.
It’s time we stopped tolerating the theft of our traditions and started building systems that protect, promote, and pay those who created them.