In June 2025, luxury fashion brand Prada sent a braided brown leather sandal down a runway in Milan. Within days, the design was trending in India — but not for reasons one might expect. Prada’s sandal closely resembled an Indian Kolhapuri, a traditional sandal named after Kolhapur, a town in the western state of Maharashtra. Headlines, think pieces and social media videos quickly accused the brand of cultural appropriation.

In Maharashtra, leather artisan Shubham Satpute came across the Prada sandal as the controversy spread online. “There was nothing wrong with [Prada] taking inspiration, but we felt the term ‘Kolhapuri’ should have been used,” he says. After the initial backlash, Prada acknowledged the design’s Indian origins.