The great thrift valley: How the Northeast became India's style underground
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Online thrift is not for the faint of heart. In the fastest-fingers-first world, you have to call dibs on an item the moment it is released on the Gram. The drop is announced via Stories. You set the alarm, turn on notifications and still you might miss what you had set your heart on after seeing it in a sneak-peek. There are no pre-bookings and no favourites. But that is the thrill of thrifting—the one that got away.As thrifting—a common term for buying second-hand, preloved goods—gains traction in India, the Northeast is emerging as the hub. A lack of retail shops in the past has created a culture of thrift in northeastern states where secondhand goods arrive in bales. Add to this their unique sense of style— and urban audiences in the rest of the country can't get enough of thrift lines from the Northeast.All north eastern states have secondhand markets—from Fancy Bazaar in Guwahati and Police Bazaar in Shillong to Bara Bazaar in Aizawl, Sunday second-hand market in Imphal and Hong Kong market in Dimapur Manipur-based Ngahon Tungshangnao , who set up his store Mirinwon in 2019, says it takes days to find the right products. He visits every thrift store in his hometown Ukhrul and travels to Imphal city and even other states to source. The clothing usually arrives in bales of 80-100 kg. 'I do drops twice or thrice a week on Instagram , sourcing items according to the seasons.'Tungshangnao, who loves his bucolic life with a side of high fashion, says it is convenient to start an online thrift store in the Northeast , but it has not been easy of late. 'Political instability poses challenges. And the internet gets banned whenever there's a riot. With no private couriers, one can't make quick deliveries either,' he says.Dimapur-based Rachel Gwanile Thong started her store Assortments2.0 in 2016. 'I began by selling pieces from my wardrobe that I didn't wear anymore. To my surprise, people were interested. That encouraged me to start thrifting and sourcing pieces,' she says, adding that the interest has only grown of late.Thong, who runs the operation with her partner Limatenzuk Ozukum, sources everything from Nagaland—mainly Kohima and Dimapur. 'In the early days, I used to go around second-hand shops and dig through everything myself. Now, we have vendors who give us a heads-up when they open a new batch and we get the first pick. We source in bulk,' says Thong.Thong says logistics is a challenge, but her customers have come to realise that quick shipping and fast deliveries are not possible from Dimapur.Assortments2.0 does two-three drops a week. 'I don't always follow themes, unless I happen to have a good collection of similar pieces. Otherwise, it's more of a 'what caught my eye' approach,' she says.In contrast, Folkpants, run by the sisters Linno and Lumri Jajo, from Ukhrul, puts out thematic drops. Lumri Jajo says thrifting was a natural progression of their love for clothes and fashion. 'During college, we organised successful garage sales at our home in Delhi,' she says.Jajo says they observed a lack of quality and unique clothes at affordable prices for conscious consumers. As they sourced for their personal wear, they decided to curate items that didn't fit their style but were too good to pass up. Folkpants has recently done an all white edit for summer, a linen edit and even a vest edit. Jajo says, 'There are many thrift shops but some sell cheap items without quality or authenticity, while others have high prices but less curated selections. We stand out by offering quality products at reasonable prices.'With thrift shops launching on Instagram on a daily basis, curation, quality control and deliverables are the way forward.Bengaluru-based risk analyst Aparna Balaji has thrifted from shops in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, and says they understand the meaning of thrifting. 'They carefully choose the pieces they put up. So, it's unique. It is sent through India Post , making it even lighter on the pocket and truly sustainable, what thrifting is meant to be,' says Balaji.Chennai-based bag designer Sudha Sekhar has faced some issues. 'I am particular about the cut and fabric. These pages mostly get products from East Asian countries that almost always have smaller sizes. But some experiences have been good, like my footwear picks. I have been wearing some for three years,' she says. An abundance of polyester also bothers her.Itanagar-based Shaingam Mashangva who runs The Mellow Lane says she tries to curate according to her clientele. 'One needs to really do some homework for the business to thrive. Understanding the customer's choice is very important. Since 90% of my clients are from places that are hot and humid, I mostly source comfortable natural materials,' says Mashangva, a physics teacher-turned-thrift business owner.She says sourcing good pieces has become tough: 'Sometimes after going through 1,000-3,000 items, we end up with just 40-90 good pieces.' She does a drop of 20-25 pieces. She sells 30-50% of clothes on the day of the drop but ends up with a lot of unsold items, which are put on sale after a couple of months.She says, 'When you are selecting from 100 kg bales, you end up with a lot of defective pieces.' Most thrift shops, while selling items, mention even a small defect in products and that is reflected in the pricing.Page owners confirm demand from the mainland. Thong, who is a lawyer, says that even though Assortments2.0 is a side hustle, she has seen steady growth and strong support over the years. 'With more people embracing sustainable fashion, we are seriously thinking of scaling this into something bigger, hopefully a full-fledged brand.' Most of her buyers—from teens to people in their 40s and 50s—are from metro cities.Even Tungshangnao started Mirinwon as a side hustle, but now it's a full-time business, thanks to the growing demand. He says, 'Thrifting has become cool. My consumers are from all over India, and they are 18 to 45 year olds.'Yet challenges remain. Mashangva says that each year the price of thrifted clothes is increasing as bad-quality thrift bales make it harder to get good pieces: 'While it's easy to set up an online thrift store, it is difficult to build followers because of the Instagram algorithm. And the number of followers matters a lot for this business.'Jajo says that whether the thrift stores will succeed depends on the individuals running it. 'We started small but have grown into a sustainable business over the past six years. Demand and growth have been steady, with 80% customers returning.' Jajo says many find the process of searching for unique items enjoyable.As interior designer Lorraine Kerr told The Cut in 2013 on why she thrifts: 'The chase is the most fun part…. It's about the hunting and gathering!' The thrill of discovery is just a fingertip away.
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Those who do sell designer Kolhapuris often manufacture in Mumbai or elsewhere outside the Kolhapur and Belagavi districts. Two public sector undertakings—Lidcom in Maharashtra and Lidkar in Karnataka—were set up in the 1970s to train Kolhapuri chappal artisans and retail their products. Their financial filings are not publicly available on their websites; instead, visitors are greeted with placeholder text. A community creation At ease in his home in Kolhapur, Shashikant Tulsidas Vhatkar, 56, told Mint about how generations of his family and others in the district have dedicated themselves to the iconic chappals. Making the Kolhapuri chappal is a community business, with each member of the family contributing to the end product. The women stitch thin strips of leather into the braid connecting the sandal's T-strap to the toe ring. The men polish and shape the shoes from the leather hides. It's how the craft has been kept alive by generations since medieval times, when the chappal is first said to have been created in the neighbouring districts of Kolhapur and Belagavi. Over time, locals developed variants of the chappals, each named after the village that designed them. By the 18th century, local satraps had taken to the Kolhapuri chappal, along with prominent rulers like Shahu Maharaj, and tanneries flourished in the area, boosting production. For old timers such as Vhatkar, making Kolhapuris is an art, and even reverence—he refused to sit on the heaps of buffalo leather. 'I cannot. This is our mother," he said. Among the prized leather hides is a six feet high, chrome-yellow piece that Vhatkar holds up in a dank, sweaty room. Traditionally, this buffalo hide is dyed with vegetable extracts. Typically, the artisans of Kolhapur use all kinds of leather to make chappals across price points. But over time, they have turned to softer, lower quality leather to make footwear for the mass market. Chappals made from these cheaper materials retail for ₹300-400 while those made with traditional leather and stitching techniques start at ₹2,000-3,000 a pair. Most of these artisans belong to a few castes, traditionally discriminated against in the social hierarchy. Apart from the burden of caste discrimination, they are also struggling with a ban on cow slaughter in Maharashtra. Without the traditional means of securing cow and buffalo hides, used by leather workers to make shoes and other goods for centuries, the cost of sourcing materials for Kolhapuri chappals has gone up. Apart from cheaper leather from Chennai and Kanpur, traditional Kolhapuri artisans are experimenting with artificial leather too. In a corner of his courtyard, Vhatkar also stores heaps of a thin leather parchment sourced all the way from Chennai. These are cheaper, and pale coloured, meant for the eminently wearable and affordable Kolhapuri chappals one finds street shopping in India. Usually, these are dyed chemically, and the bells and whistles of the Kolhapuri style are pasted on, rather than stitched. Vhatkar alone buys 10-15 tonnes of leather from Chennai every month, and hands it over to shoemakers in his area. He invests ₹25 lakh in the business annually, and has a turnover of ₹1 crore. However, Vhatkar insists, it is the artisans who take home all the money and leave him with little. Kolhapur's shoemakers, however, say they earn just about ₹25,000 a month, on average. One family can produce about 100 pairs of cheap chappals that don't require hand stitching in one week, but can make only 20 of the pricier variety in that time. This is a difficult trade to scale up, the artisans say. A whiff of oxygen Since news of the Milan catwalk controversy broke, Prada has become a buzzword all over Kolhapur. Sambhaji Shivaji Powar, a Kolhapuri chappal maker from Kale village near Kolhapur city, says the Italian brand has sparked a kind of renaissance for the traditional sandals. 'We got to know that Prada was using Kolhapuri shoes when everyone spoke about it in the market," he told Mint. 'Our customers come from all over the world but we never get the credit for it." One such customer, for instance, found the shoes Powar's wife Shobha makes on an Instagram page run by his son. He bought two pairs for ₹8,000, a handsome sum. But, the man later told Powar he was selling them to a customer in Australia. 'He would have sold it for a higher price but the maker goes unnoticed," he adds. Designer Toor also says she has international customers for her Kolhapuri inspired sandals, including buyers in Chile. But, she added, the controversy with Prada has had no impact on her sales. 'I think the current rise in interest in Kolhapuri chappals is a fleeting trend," she said. 'For mass-priced brands, there may be a bump in sales." Some artisans in Kolhapur agree with Toor. 'The hype is temporary and in a few days, everyone will forget," 40-year-old Mahesh Suhas Kamble told Mint. He is part of the fourth generation in his family in the traditional trade. Anurag Chandrakant Kokitkar, 33, also worries that the 'Prada' impact will fade away as just another hashtag. He is hoping that thanks to the fight with Prada, there will finally be a serious push to upgrade the chappal trade. In 2013, Kokitkar had set up a manufacturing unit called Paytaan (slang for Kolhapuri slipper), but shut it down during the pandemic. Appropriation debate Together, artisans and traders like Vhatkar make up a community of roughly 100,000 professionals living and working in the villages and towns of Kolhapur district. This is the community that advocate Hingmire says needs to be helped, despite the protections that India's geographical indication tag provides to the product. Legally, only a sandal made in the toe-ring style in the districts of Kolhapur (Maharashtra) and Belagavi (Karnataka) can be called 'Kolhapuri chappals'. But, he told Mint, foreign brands routinely get away with appropriating India's traditional handicrafts without so much as an acknowledgement, let alone compensation. Some are now trying to address these allegations of cultural appropriation. Last week, employees of Prada S.p.A visited Mumbai and Kolhapur to meet artisans and leaders of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (MCCIA). They promised to work with the Kolhapuri artisans on future designs. 'We want to bring in a revenue sharing model, get them to purchase from our artists. Prada has added glamour to our work," Lalit Gandhi, president of the MCCIA, told Mint. 'We need to build on that." Gandhi also said he is working with other Indian sourcing firms. Among those interested in sourcing authentic Kolhapuris for markets abroad is Asmara Group, an Indian apparel multinational. Asmara wrote to the MCCIA evincing 'interest" in the sandals. Among Asmara's buyers are American retailers Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Free People. Mint could not independently verify the claim. Prada did not respond to Mint's request for a comment, nor did Asmara Group. There is scepticism regarding what Prada and other fashion powerhouses can really do for the Kolhapuri chappals. After all, homegrown designers and exporters, too, have had no lasting impact on the way the chappals are made and sold. The Prada controversy has, however, reignited an old debate on what constitutes cultural appropriation. Some designers, such as Tiesta's Jogatar, believe Prada missed an opportunity to work with local designers and artisans and lend credibility to its collection. Others, including Toor, disagree. 'Designers around the world have drawn inspiration from Indian art and handicrafts like ikat, kalamkari, and bandhani for years," she said. 'The idea of cultural appropriation or giving credit to someone is a very subjective issue. It is all about a brand's ethos. But drawing inspiration is at the heart of design. At the end of the day, I am just happy that the rich tradition of the Kolhapuri chappal is on the global stage. That, too, with a big name like Prada."
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It isn't easy for non-resident Indians (NRIs) to invest in India. Opening a demat account with a broker, for instance, requires you to fill in forms that runs into several pages, courier them to your broker after rectifying any errors, and find authorities in your country of residence to notarise original documents. How iron out such issues, Zerodha and Angel One have been working with Rupeeflo, a Bengaluru startup. Other brokers are also looking for ways to simply the process and encourage more NRIs to invest. What are the main hurdles? Opening a demat account requires an NRI to fill out forms, scan and email them to a broker for review. If the broker finds no errors, he asks the NRI to courier the form to the official address for processing. This can be cumbersome. 'The client is required to physically sign the form. If a soft-copy validation is rejected, they need to rectify and reshare it with us," said Kazi Rahman, head of NRI sales at Zerodha. NRIs also need to get their KYC documents verified. These include passport, foreign address proof, and PAN card. If the NRI is not in India at present, he can do this by having his documents notarised in his residence country and couriering them. If the NRI is in India, he can visit the broker's branch office with his notarised documents, submit the documents and open his account. Brokers such as Zerodha have also started to allow this through Aadhar-based e-sign facility. The client can digitally upload his documents along with his immigration details to establish his presence in India and then e-sign through Aadhar. Digital process Rupeeflo is working with brokers to create a digital-first process for NRIs to make this easier. Once a users upload his PAN card, passport and address proof, the platform's optical character recognition technology automatically extracts the information, checks the authenticity of the documents against official databases and validates them in real time. It also fills up most details in the form automatically, directly extracting it from client's documents. The NRI can review the application form and fill in the remaining details such as employer, occupation and nominee. Next comes digital notarisation, for which Rupeeflo has partnered with several public notaries in various countries. 'The NRI connects with the notary on the platform through video call, where the latter conducts the process in accordance with their jurisdictions' specific regulatory norms and accordingly notarises the documents," said Dharmendra Maurya, co-founder of Rupeeflo. This digital notarisation is done in foreign jurisdictions, where there are guidelines for it. However, this is a regulatory and legal grey area that needs more clarity. More on that later. Once the documents are notarised, the NRI can download both the application form and the notarised documents. After signing in required fields on the application form (wet signatures are still required) and the KYC documents, the user can schedule a courier pick-up on Rupeeflo. The form and the notarised documents are then sent to the broker's operation centre for account opening. Digital notarisation costs anywhere fro $20-40 per document. The courier charges for pick-up and delivery are $40-50. Total charges depend on the NRI's country of residence. "Opening a demat account as an NRI still involves considerable friction—physical forms, notarised documents, and courier logistics,"Nishant Jain, chief business officer - assisted business from Angel One. 'We have simplified this journey by accepting digitally notarised documents, removing key friction points and enabling NRIs to onboard faster and more securely," he added. Regulatory grey zone The current regulations allow NRIs to get their documents notarised abroad. However, there is no explicit rule that allows digital or remote notarisation. Two sources confirmed that CVL KRA has given email confirmation to Zerodha on its digital notarisation process. However, there is no explicit notification by CVL KRA or the Securities and Exchange Board of India on this. Mint couldn't independently verify the e-mail confirmation from CVL KRA. "Strict implementation of Indian legal provisions would require physical presence of an individual before the notary. The notary needs to see the original documents, verify the identity of person face-to-face, before putting his own seal and stamp certifying it as a 'Sworn before me. Attested true copy'," said Shashank Agarwal, an advocate at Delhi High Court. 'The Notaries Act, 1952 is silent as regards e-notarisation. The Notaries Rules, 1956 do not address or specifically deal with the acceptance or legal validity of notarised electronic documents. The Notaries Act, 1952 governs traditional notarization, and documents still need to be notarised 'in person" to be valid," said Yogesh Chande, partner at Shradul Amarchand Mangaldas. At GIFT City, which is regulated by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), fintech companies conduct face-to-face KYC to onboard NRI clients. For instance, Belong, an NRI-focused payment service provider, has business facilitators in the UAE who meet NRI clients personally and verify their documents to comply with KYC guidelines. The current rules allow employees of regulated entity or agents acting on behalf of the regulated entity to use the 'original seen and verified' (OSV) process for KYC.
