Evolution Of Footwear In India
Footwear mainly was made to protect the feet from cold weather and now look it's no less than a fashion statement. They were initially made out of leather, wool or remains of the past.
Evolution of footwear
Footwear like everything else holds its history tracing back to the ice age about 5 million years ago. With human evolution and change in weather conditions, demand for footwear started growing. Historical sources state that footwear came to use by the end of the Paleolithic period, along with the time early humans learned the art of leather tanning.
History of Indian footwear
Until half a century ago, India was known as a barefoot country, the foot is regarded as an important part of the human body in the Indian culture. Therefore, footwear was considered to be luxury in Indian society but still, India was well known for its traditional craft of footwear making.
Footwear earlier was made out of wrappings of dried grasses and later with time the art of making it from pieces of leather was developed. Like now, there was no left and right shoes earlier, they were made the same straight for both the legs, but continuous usage made them differentiate between left and the right one. The Indian sandals called Padukas were earlier only worn by the Saints.
Chamar- The Indian shoe architect
India is one of the most diversified countries in terms of religion and ethnicity with various castes, cultures, and practices. Among the various communities of India is one such large community, the Chamar. The title name Chamar is derived from the Sanskrit language 'Charmakar' which means the one who works with Leather, making shoes and bags. The chamar men used to remove skins of dead animals and female Chamars functioned as midwives. According to the Hindu social order or Varna system, the community comes under Shudras, who were considered to be untouchables, but they are the ones who took the Indian footwear industry on various heights later.
Chamar: tables turn with word of abuse becoming pride
Today the Indian footwear sector is growing one with gigantic opportunities. India being a nation full of artisans known for their traditional craft of footwear making has grown to a great degree.
The Indian footwear has come a long away, there are shoe factories set up in the country, excelling in the footwear designs. One such known example is 'Chamar Studio', they take pride in their brand name. Sudheer Rajbhar the founder of 'Chamar studio' picked this name as it was used as a word of abuse and he wants to reclaim it as an epithet of pride. The association amalgamates business with sustainability and Dalit pride. The founder born in slums of Mumbai has no degree in designs. He aimed to give life to discarded rubber and other waste by recycling them into shoes, belts, bags, and jackets.
Kinds of Indigenous footwear
Aesthetics and vintage are all that is being preached in the 21st century, and this applies to the footwear designs too. Indian footwear is appreciated globally because of its authenticity.
Traditional Indian sandals known as chappal remains to top the list of Indian footwear. Chappals come in various designs and are both comfortable and long-lasting. Originally they were made in Kolhapur, Maharashtra is widely known as Kolhapuri chappals.
The second most famous traditional Indian footwear is 'jhuttis' and 'mojhris'. Mojhari's are closest to the man with an extended curled in front too, while Jhutti's have flat fronts. These shoes were traditionally made in Jodhpur and Jaipur, the beautiful cities of Rajasthan. In the past, these were considered as the royal ethnic footwear to enhance the traditional Indian outfits. They come in a variety of colors and designs, handcrafted and made out of buffalo, cow or camel leather soles.
Indo-Tibetan felt boots in Sikkim and vegetable fiber shoes in Ladakh are also major indigenous footwear.
Footwear designing colleges in India
The Indian footwear industry is growing day by day both on the International and domestic levels. It is no big deal to have a successful career in this growing footwear industry, all it requires is a tint of creativity, commercial and technical expertise. Choosing the right shoe design school is the most important key, following is the list of colleges you can look forward to if interested in designing shoe-
1. National Institute of fashion technology (NIFT New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata)
2. Hamstech Institute of Fashion & Interior design (Hyderabad)
3. International Institute of fashion and interior design (Hyderabad)
4. Central Footwear Training Institute (Chennai, Agra)
5. Footwear Design and Development Institute (Noida)
6. B D Somani Institute of Art and Fashion Technology, Mumbai
7. P.C.M.S.D. College for Women (Jalandhar)
8. Government Polytechnic (Mumbai)
9. Kashmir Government Polytechnic College (Srinagar)
10. A.P Government Institute of Leather Technology (Hyderabad)
11. Government Leather Institute (Kanpur, Agra)
12. Government Tanning Institute (Jalandhar)
Indian Footwear designers
With India being the second-largest global producer of footwear after China, the Indian footwear designers hold a great global status in the industry. One such shoe couturier is 'Nidhi Bhandari', she is a brand on the National Fashion scenario. Her label specializes in pret-a-porter along with couture.
He mostly creates quirky and high-end fashion footwear with the concept of customizing shoes. In 2011, the label won the prestigious Grazia Young Designer’s Award along with the ELLE Style Awards! The brand has also showcased in seven seasons of Lakme Fashion Week. Indigenous designer Manish Arora's autumn-winter collection at Paris Fashion Week had sports shoes in different silhouettes, fashion fabrics and of course high-platform heels. The wedding collection of the label is also much appreciated on the global level.
The collaboration of Indian designers with shoe brand
Few ace fashion designers also stepped into the world of footwear designing. The collaborations were grand.
Sabyasachi x Christian Louboutin
Christian Louboutin and Sabyasachi presented an exclusive, ultra limited-edition capsule collection for men and women. The designers together aimed to make the embroiders into shoes that can dance into the light. The collection had a dozen women's shoe styles, including an exquisite thigh-high boot crafted along with delicate leather strips designed to highlight the leg.
For men, there were iconic styles, Dandelion loafer with the Sabyasachi magic touch with embroidered toe-cap recalling traditional Indian wedding shoes. It had an incredibly rich patchwork of motifs and colors.
Masaba x Puma
Masaba gave a fresh spin to the classic Cali sneakers, this collaboration upgraded the street style and made sure to make a statement in the footwear industry.
Puma for the first time came up with an Indian designer for a sneaker collaboration called 'CALI X MASABA'. It comprised 50 pairs of CALI bold, designed by Masaba. The collection brought Masaba's bold colors and prints onto the plain white sneakers, Masaba's designs and Puma's comfort is like a pair made in heaven for the sneakerheads.
Details can also be seen at https://www.iknockfashion.com/designer-masaba-gupta-collaborates-with-puma-for-a-limited-edition/
Global scenario & share of Indian footwear Industry
According to https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/33928/2/chapter1.pdf
During the mid-1970s, 100% export-oriented footwear units in large scale sectors were promoted, from 2001 onwards the Indian government de-reserved the leather sector.
From the year 1981-1982, the export of footwear from India increased tremendously. Although the country has a negligible proportion of exports in the world trade it is the second-largest producer of footwear after China.
India alone holds 14% of the global annual footwear production of 14.2 billion pairs, it manufactures around 2065 million pairs of footwear every year from which 909 million pairs are made out of leather, around 1065 million pair of non-leather footwear.
The major footwear production centers in the country are Chennai, Mumbai, Kanpur, Jalandhar, Agra, Delhi, Karnal, Ludhiana, Pune, Kolkata, Calicut and Ambur in Tamil Nadu.
The footwear mainly exported from India are Casuals, Moccasins, sports shoes, boots, Sandals, and chappals. The main importers of footwear from India are the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and the USA.
Conclusion
The Indian consuming market is changing rapidly in terms of its nature and composition. With the coming of globalization, the consumers became more aware of the different varieties of products that are produced and marketed all over the globe.
India is the state of the art manufacturing plant, the footwear sector has grown from the level of the manual footwear manufacturing method to the automated footwear manufacturing company. The footwear production units are installed with world-class high tech machines. Managed by skilled technicians, these machines hold the capacity of turning any shoe dream into a reality. It can be said that India has a well-developed footwear component manufacturing industry. The future growth of the footwear industry in India will continue to be market-drivenn and directed towards EU and US markets.
With the technology and quality of the footwear improving year after year, the Indian footwear industry is making its print in and expertise in the global footwear trade.
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