Africa news and archive

Tunis Fashion Week 2024: A platform for international business and artistic dimension

By bringing together institutional delegations from China and Russia, potential private partners from Algeria and brands from Tunisia, Portugal, Italy, Russia and France, at the gateway to the Sahara, in the phantasmagorical setting of an arty, industrial salt lake, the producer of Tunis Fashion Week, Anis Montacer, presents Tunisia with a...

BusinessFeatured

Labels To Watch: 5 South African brands that reflect the richness of Africa’s fashion

South Africa Fashion Week (SAFW) has enjoyed a good reputation for decades. Founded in 1997 by Lucilla Booyzen, the biannual event takes place in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and presents an important opportunity for retailers to discover the richness of African fashion. South Africa is a breeding ground for fashion talent. According to...

Business

AAFA supports call to extend duty-free deal with African markets

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has welcomed and expressed support for a new bill attempting to extend the currently in place African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is set to expire September 2025. The AGOA Renewal and Improvement Act of 2024, introduced by Senators Chris Coons and James Risch, calls on the original...

BusinessFeatured

Maka raises 2.65 million US dollars to simplify buying fashion in Africa

Africa’s leading fashion and beauty e-commerce platform Maka has raised a 2.65 million US dollar pre-seed round, co-led by venture capital firms 4DX Ventures and Janngo Capital, as it looks to simplify buying fashion and beauty products in Africa. The social media commerce platform, founded by chief executive Diana Owusu-Kyereko in 2021, said...

BusinessFeatured

Uganda bans the import of discarded clothing from Europe and the US

The East African country of Uganda is putting an immediate stop to the import of second-hand clothing. President Yoweri Museveni wants to advance its own textile industry by doing so, as people who present new clothing to Uganda typically struggle to intervene in the market. Museveni announced the move at the opening of a Ugandan-Chinese...

Business

South African shopping centre unveils AI-powered marketing campaign

Sandton City, a Johannesburg-based shopping centre, has exhibited how the fast developing artificial intelligence (AI) can be put to good use when it comes to marketing. The South African retailer has unveiled a campaign powered by the smart technology that displays digital iterations of iconic fashion staples in a reinvention of its ‘City of...

Business

Kenya’s ShopZetu secures one million dollar pre-seed funding

ShopZetu, an African fashion and lifestyle e-commerce company, has announced the closure of a one million dollar pre-seed funding round, led by Chui Ventures. The Kenya-based start-up, founded in 2021 by Marvin Kiragu and Wandia Gichuru, is hoping to become the most prominent of its kind on the continent, operating as a centralised marketplace...

Fashion

What to know about Egypt’s first fashion week

Egypt will soon be joining the growing roster of international fashion weeks, as it prepares to host its first edition from May 12 to 15, 2023. The official Egypt Fashion Week is being organised by the Ministry of Trade, Economic Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, which unveiled the plans for the event during a press conference in the...

Fashion

South Africa's Precious Moloi-Motsepe, champion of African fashion

South African Precious Moloi-Motsepe, one of the richest women in Africa, is a staunch promoter of fashion designers from the young, vibrant and culturally diverse continent. Style has coursed through her veins since she was a young girl growing up in Soweto township, and for her the time is ripe for "African designers to shine" on the...

Business

LVMH partners with Circular Bioeconomy Alliance to drive regenerative agriculture in Africa

Luxury conglomerate LVMH has announced a new partnership with King Charles III’s Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA), an organisation centred around the production of sustainable cotton in Africa. The collaboration comes as part of LVMH’s environmental programme, Life360, and its past pledges towards supporting regenerative agriculture. The duo...

Business

Prada and UNFPA launch fashion programme in Ghana and Kenya

Luxury conglomerate Prada Group has teamed up with the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) on a fashion training programme for young women in Ghana and Kenya. The pilot programme, ‘Fashion Expressions: The Stories She Wears’, looks to leverage the social and economic power of fashion to promote women’s empowerment and...

Fashion Featured

‘Real Leather. Stay Different.’ launches African talent showcase

The ‘Real Leather. Stay Different.’ international student design competition from the Leather and Hide Council of America is launching an African talent leather design showcase in 2023 in partnership with the African Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI). The African Talent Leather Design Showcase 2023 aims to educate the next...