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 cha...