Fashion companies release new collection and bring new styles and designs at least four times a year, making it competitive as new designs compete for the attention of the consumer. Have you ever thought where the inspiration is coming from?

The companies are free to create, inspire, even imitate, but what happens when the designers run out of ideas.  A recent controversy surrounding Italian luxury Prada, puts spotlight on how global fashion giants engage in India – a country whose rich artistic traditions have often suffered because of its inability to cash in on them.

Prada got into trouble in June after its models walked the runway in Milan wearing a toe-braided scandal (chappal) that looked like the Kolhapuri chappal, a handcrafted leather shoe made in India. The sandals are named after Kolhapur a town in the western state of Maharashtra where they have been made for centuries- but the Prada collection failed to mention this, prompting a backlash, forcing Prada to issue a statement saying it acknowledged the sandals’ origins and that it was open to a “dialogue for meaningful exchange with local Indian artisans”. Prada team met the artisans and shopkeepers in Kolhapur who make and sell the sandals to understand the process, and even indicated that Prada may potentially collaborate in future with some manufacturers of Kolhapuri footwear. This is a classic example of a global fashion giant acknowledging that it failed to credit local artisans and the craft it was piggbacking on.

Many big brands have been routinely accuse of drawing inspirations from India, and wider South Asian, traditions in their quest to reinvent and stay relevant, but without crediting the source.

Earlier this year, spring designs from Reformation and H&M ignites a fiery debate on cultural appropriation after many said that their outfits appeared heavily inspired by South Asian garments. Both brands issued clarifications while H&M denied allegations, Reformation said its design was inspired by an outfit owned by a model with whom it had collaborated for the collection.

Couple of weeks ago, Dior was criticised after its highly anticipated Paris collection featured a gold and ivory houndstooth coat, which many pointed out was crafted with Mukaish work, a centuries-old metal embroidery technique from northern India. The collection did not mention the roots of the craft or India at all.

But some experts say that not every brand that draws inspirations from a culture does so with wrong intentions- designers around the world invoke aesthetics from different traditions all the time, spotlighting them on a global scale. Critics also point out that any borrowing needs to be underpinned by respect and acknowledgement, especially when these ideas are repurposed by powerful global brands to be sold at incredibly high prices.

“ Give due credit is part of a design responsibility, It’s thought to you in design school and brands need to educate themselves about it,  as it leads to cultural neglect towards a part of the world which brands claim to love” says Shefalee Vasudev the editor-in-chief of Voice of Fashion.

Luxury retail market in India is expected to double to $1.4bn by 2032, powered by expanding and affluent middle-class, global luxury brands are increasingly eyeing India as a key market as they hope to make up for weaker demand elsewhere.

Weavers in India toil for weeks or months to hand finish one masterpiece, but they often work in precarious conditions without adequate remuneration and with no protection for their work under international intellectual property laws.