MBA Grad’s New Spins on Age-Old Kolhapuris Sell Across The World, Clock Rs 3 Crore |
Originally reported and written in January 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.
Harshvardhan Patwardhan recalls that when he was studying in Europe, he’d often find men wearing pink, yellow, and neon green shoes. “In India,” he notes, “shoe manufacturers are scared to make anything except black and brown. They manufacture 5 to 6 lakh shoes a month, but all in black and brown.”
“I want to break this stereotype,” the 31-year-old MBA graduate tells The Better India.
It was during his graduation in Nottingham that Harshvardhan took a fancy to Kolhapuri chappals. “On a traditional day at the college, I wore a kurta with Nike sandals. My brother was very disappointed. So he gave me his Kolhapuri chappals. That was the first time I wore Kolhapuris, and I fell in love with them. I danced wearing those. Since then I could not wear any other footwear. I’d even wear Kolhapuris in the snow, to clubs, everywhere,” he recalls.
The origins of Kolhapuri chappals are said to date back sometime during the 12th or 13th century. These are hand-crafted leather slippers that are tanned using vegetable dyes, and hold great significance in the Indian craft heritage.
Made predominantly in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, these are said to represent among the last remaining handmade footwear traditions in the country. Despite the advent of a vast variety of footwear from across the corners of the world, the Kolhapuri has more or less stood the test of time, as a true testament to its strong heritage and origins.
Harshvardhan aims to bring these traditional chappals worldwide recognition by “westernising” these........