Good Intentions or Good Pressure? Let's Read Prada's Pattern of Change
Surbhi ChadhaPrada is one of the most recognised luxury brands in the world. Interestingly, it is also one that has a documented habit of getting things wrong, facing public pressure, and then doing what it probably should have done in the first place.
At TuDuGu, the work we do is built around Indian artisans and the craft traditions they carry. When a global brand engages with that world, we pay attention. This is our attempt to look honestly at what that engagement has looked like for one of the industry's biggest names.
2018, Blackface Figurines
In December 2018, Prada's SoHo holiday display featured figurines with dark brown faces and large red lips as part of its Pradamalia collection. The items were described as whimsical fantasy creatures.
A civil rights attorney named Chinyere Ezie walked past the store on her way back from a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, where she had just seen an exhibit on blackface. She posted about what she saw. The post was shared more than 9,000 times within hours.
Prada pulled the products and apologised. The brand said it had no intention of referencing blackface and abhorred racist imagery.
A Diversity Council was subsequently formed as part of a legal settlement with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, mandated to create meaningful partnerships between Prada and social justice organisations for six years.
The question the timeline raises is whether the Council would have existed without the pressure that preceded it.
2019, Going Fur-Free
Animal rights groups lobbied Prada for more than a decade. PETA disrupted its catwalks with anti-fur banners, staged demonstrations across the world, and sent the brand extensive documentation on conditions in fur farming.
In 2018, actor and animal rights advocate Pamela Anderson sent a formal letter to Miuccia Prada on PETA's behalf, urging the brand to go fur-free.
In May 2019, Prada announced it would stop using animal fur from its Spring-Summer 2020 collections onwards.
The announcement was framed as a commitment to innovation and ethical products. It was also the conclusion of a very long and very public campaign. Armani had gone fur-free in 2016. Versace followed in 2018. Ralph Lauren, Vivienne Westwood, and Michael Kors had all done so years before Prada made the same move.
2025, The Kolhapuri Chappal
In June 2025, Prada presented open-toe leather sandals at Milan Fashion Week as part of its Men's Spring-Summer 2026 collection.
The sandals bore an unmistakable resemblance to the Kolhapuri chappal, a craft tradition from Maharashtra and Karnataka that dates back to the 12th century, made by mochi artisans whose families have practised the same techniques across generations, and awarded Geographical Indication status in 2019.
Prada described the sandals as leather flat sandals, with no mention of India or the artisans behind the tradition that had clearly shaped the design.
Authentic Kolhapuri chappals sell in India for around 1,000 rupees. Prada's version was priced at the equivalent of approximately Rs 1.2 lakh. The pricing gap alone would have raised questions.
The absence of any credit made it impossible to ignore. Indian artisans, politicians, designers, and consumers called it out across social media and national press. Fashion watchdogs shared runway footage. Bollywood amplified it. The story reached publications across the world.
A week after the show, Prada acknowledged that the sandals were inspired by traditional Indian footwear.
- By December 2025, a formal MoU had been signed with LIDCOM and LIDKAR, the two government-backed corporations that hold the official GI tag for Kolhapuri chappals.
- By April 2026, a limited-edition collection made by the original artisans was available across 40 Prada stores worldwide, alongside a three-year training programme for craftspeople from the eight districts traditionally associated with Kolhapuri sandal-making.
These are real and meaningful commitments. The artisans are now credited, compensated, and placed within a global distribution network they would otherwise have no access to. The collaboration that followed the controversy may well be more impactful than anything a simpler engagement would have produced.
2025-2026, Worker Exploitation in the Italian Supply Chain
In December 2025, Milan prosecutors named Prada among 13 luxury brands linked to subcontractors who had been exploiting migrant workers in Italy.
Chinese and Pakistani workers were found in conditions that violated labour law, including in some cases sleeping in dormitories built inside the factories where they worked. Prosecutors requested supply chain documents from the brands involved.
Prada subsequently cut ties with more than 200 suppliers and launched what it described as a zero-tolerance audit programme. The company noted that supply chain audits had technically begun in 2020, and that over 850 on-site inspections had been conducted since then.
The rate of supplier terminations accelerated significantly after the prosecutors arrived in December 2025.
The Sequence Is the Point
Yes, each time, the story follows the same path.
Something goes wrong, people call it out, and Prada responds. To its credit, the response is usually real. What is harder to overlook is that in each case, the action came after the pressure, not before it.
There is a difference between a brand that builds inclusive practices into how it works and one that forms a council because a settlement requires it. Going fur-free after a decade of demonstrations on your catwalk is a different story from arriving at that decision through your own examination. Seeking out a craft tradition because you genuinely want to honour it is a different starting point from crediting it only after a public outcry forces the issue.
The results matter. So does what it took to get there.
Drawing a Genuine Connect Between Tradition and Today
At TuDuGu, we work with Indian artisans who make remarkable things, from weavers, block printers, embroiderers, to natural dyers. They sustain craft traditions that are hundreds of years old, largely outside the spotlight of global fashion.
