At a time when luxury labels continue to sell Indian design pieces without credit or context, this 30-year-old leatherwork artiste from Kolhapur has traded accounting spreadsheets for handcrafted soles, choosing to continue the generational craft he grew up around, taught by his father and other local artists. Sagar Kamble is one of the many leather artistes employed at Navyug, a leather goods store in the chappal market of Kolhapur, located just a few hundred metres away from the famous Mahalaxmi Temple.

The temple has always been an important stop on the Shakti Peeth temple pilgrimage, but Kolhapur’s chappal lane became the talking point of the fashion circuit last month, when Prada showcased leather chappals strikingly similar to the traditional Kolhapuri chappals without credit to the original. Thirty-four-year-old Aditya Kadam, who runs Navyug with his wife Supriya, says this is not Kolhapur’s first brush with high fashion — technical teams of couture houses have been known to visit the market even before the show and the ensuing backlash.

Stores like Navyug are like mini-institutes for younger artistes, who can learn from the senior artisans