Leveraging cultural heritage and generational craftsmanship, Southasia can reclaim its economic narrative by positioning traditional heritage industries as distinctive global luxury brands.
By Harith Soysa / Sapan News
When the luxury house Ralph Lauren featured Indian ‘jhumka’-style earrings in their upcoming Fall 2026 runway show at the Paris Fashion Week calling them ‘heritage designs’ it sparked a debate about ethics with allegations about lack of respect for the origins of the product.
Given that rapid globalization obliterates such details, what can anyone really do about it within the context of open economies?
Since Ralph Lauren credited the designs to their Indian origins, what can the local communities do apart from cheering and feeling pride?
Is it mere wishful thinking to imagine these local communities developing high-end luxury brands based on their own heritage?
This extract from an article written over a decade ago by the Sri Lankan historian Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda, based on the work of American photographer Nicolò Sertorio, provides a glimpse into a craftsperson’s art: “The light streams in through a darkened window, lighting up a block of wood. Embedded within the wood is a shining circle of silver. A long finely pointed pin in his hand, a man is tracing patterns on the metal. He is peering closely in concentration, totally wrapped up in his work.” (Art And Artisans: Photography, Portraiture and a New Way of Seeing, 13 March 2012).
Seeing artisans through an artistic lens, Dr. Delgoda’s article provides a deep contrast to modern professional trends. This is how industries functioned, a style of workmanship that has been profitably replaced by the Henry Ford-invented mass manufacturing paradigm, emotionless, repetitive tasks carried out at the manufacturing assembly line rather than artisanry and passion for work. However, some crafts persons still carry on, their skills passed on generationally with a deep sense of veneration for their profession and its ancient origins.
In contrast to the Henry Ford philosophy, the luxury industry focuses on emotional value and satisfaction offered by these heritage industry artisans.
This professional paradigm resonates with the fundamentals of global luxury brands. The French luxury brand Hermes proudly stands as an example to this claim. Artisans at Hermes focus on their workmanship. Time is irrelevant. The consumer must patiently and eagerly wait for the finished product.
It is remarkable that no attempt has been made to present these heritage industries as luxury brands to the world. Perhaps if the modern mass-manufacturing paradigm is challenged and the employees are at risk of losing their livelihoods, then the nations will have to look for solutions to a global crisis looming on the horizon.
The underlying implication behind the events, the rhetoric and the facts discussed at the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos, Switzerland, reveal the gathering momentum to drive outsourced manufacturing back to the U.S.A.
In the backdrop of the developments in artificial intelligence and robotics, this new world order challenges a key pillar of the national economies around the world – the low skilled, task oriented, manufacturing industry.
What will happen when robotics become advanced enough to manufacture shoes and apparel, and what happens when robotics and AI provide long term economic benefits for replacing manual labour?
Craft and heritage as luxury
If we take Southasia as a case study, despite the significant disparity in Southasian GDP compared to the regional population, where 25% of the global population contributes only 4% to the global GDP.
Southasians take great pride in their heritage industries, from Kashmiri pashmina, Baranasi silk, Dhaka muslin to Sri Lankan sapphires and artisanry in fabric, jewelry, wood, stone, leather and metalwork.
What is significant is that these industries still exist and that the crafts have been passed from one generation to another.
In hindsight, these heritage industries exude a sense of high-end luxury. They are the product of hands-on meticulous craftsmanship which has been transferred generationally with deep roots in local cultures.
These criteria satisfy the core fundamentals of high-end luxury brands. Furthermore, the raw materials that feed these heritage supply chains are unique to the Southasian region, making them culturally and materially irreproducible.
Until Prada, the Italian luxury brand, showcased Indian Kolhapuri chappals in their Spring/Summer 2026 collection, the Kolhapuri leather industry was just another Southasian heritage industry.
What is significant is that Prada is retailing them at USD 750 – 930 a pair. Imagine if Kolhapuri chappals artisans were able to transform their heritage to a luxury brand and obtain a similar price point for their artisanry!
Cultural heritage
“Beauty and seduction are nature’s tools for survival, because we will protect what we fall in love with”, said Louie Schwartzberg, director, producer, cinematographer, in his TedxTalk, ‘Nature Inspires Gratitude’, Dec. 2012.Southasians need to project their cultural and heritage stories in a manner that ensures deep engagement with the international audience. The region needs to create an impactful first impression, followed by an environment for the world to experience the true Southasia. Both steps are essential to enable the region to commercially present its heritage industries as global luxury brands.
A regional luxury industry consortium and a market-place could be an ideal starting point. The consortium could professionally engage with regional artisans and heritage industry professionals.
“We need to stop looking at the West,” says pioneering textile designer Noorjehan Bilgrami in Karachi. She would like to see the work of these artisans cherished locally in regional markets.
After the initial research phase, marketing and branding professionals could convert the stories to videos and other marketing materials to be promoted globally.
Strategic locations around the region that are politically neutral could be set up as marketplaces for the world to experience Southasian heritage industries in a high-end luxury setting. Once this concept is executed, Southasians may find themselves with a new set of opportunities that are aligned with their aspirations.
As the world enters a new phase of an industrial revolution, Southasians could strive to create a new narrative for the region based on their key strengths. The region is not known as a leader in the global tech landscape, but it does have a world reputation for heritage products and industries.
A tool for regional diplomacy
In the age of AI, these industries are distinctive and desirable because they are unique. This gives them added social status and economic value. In the world of international relations, this gives Southasia an economic and social tool that may be harnessed to protect livelihoods and project its reputation. “A cardinal principle of diplomacy is that if you can’t agree on the big things, maintain momentum by talking about other issues where you can agree,” as Martin Moreland, British Ambassador to Burma, said in 1986, cited in Dr. Delgoda’s article quoted above. Given the limited scope of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the continuing tension between India and Pakistan, and the political hurdles faced by Bay of Bangal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), these political neutral efforts could provide a platform for the peoples of the South Asian region to work together.
Harith Soysa holds a BSc in Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, U.S.A., and an MBA in Luxury and Business, International University of Monaco. He is visiting Karachi and will be speaking at an invitation-only Sapan get-together on Sunday 17 May 2026. He can be reached at harith.soysa@gmail.com
LEAD IMAGE: Hand-weaving in progress at Tali, Karachi. Photo by Harith Soysa.
This is a Sapan News syndicated feature available for republication with due credit https://www.sapannews.com.
Note on Southasia as one word: We use ‘Southasia’ as one word, “seeking to restore some of the historical unity of our common living space, without wishing any violence on the existing nation states” – Himal Southasian
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