Africa news and archive

Nigerian designer pushes 'Afro-lux' onto the global fashion scene

Its modern architecture complemented by latticework inspired by local Yoruba textiles, Alara, west Africa's first fashion and design "concept store", is an imposing sight in Lagos, Nigeria's bustling economic capital. Founder Reni Folawiyo is now 10 years into forging what she calls "Afro-lux", Alara serving as a homebase for designs that "play...

Fashion

'It's a microphone': Nairobi slum pageant gives platform to voiceless

A stone's throw from Kenya's largest informal settlement, a young woman glides down a spotlit catwalk, her delicate white dress at odds with the fake blood splattered across it and the tape covering her lips reading: "Stop, silence, gender-based violence". The annual "Mr and Ms Kibera" pageant in Nairobi, gleefully attended by hundreds, is about...

Fashion

Floor-length and horns: Namibia's Herero dress endures

Windhoek, Dec 18, 2024 (AFP) - From his humble Windhoek workshop, Namibia's leading fashion designer is keeping alive the love for the Herero people's traditional dress with horned headgear, a full-length skirt and a link to German colonisers accused of genocide. McBright Kavari's sewing room is piled high with seemingly ordinary fabric that he...

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Business|REPORT

Seven billion euros for European GDP: Second-hand sector calls for legislative support to maximise impact

The second-hand fashion industry has emerged as a key player in the global circular economy, making a significant contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Europe and Africa and generating thousands of jobs, particularly for women. This was revealed in a report by Oxford Economics, commissioned by Humana People to People and Sympany+,...

Fashion

From South Africa to Ivory Coast: These are the winners of Africa Fashion Up 2024

The five winners of the Africa Fashion Up competition have been announced. They hail from Ivory Coast, South Africa, Senegal and Mali, and will receive support from professionals. They will also take part in a fashion show in June, and will be able to showcase their creations in a pop-up store in the city centre of Paris. Selected from over 200...

Culture

The Museum at FIT to present ‘Africa’s Fashion Diaspora’ exhibition

A new exhibition highlighting fashion’s role in shaping international Black diasporic cultures is set to make its way to New York’s Museum at FIT (MFIT) this September, where 60 ensembles and accessories from global Black designers are to be put on display. Dubbed ‘Africa’s Fashion Diaspora’, the exhibit looks to explore how such designers take...

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Business

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...

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Business

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...

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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...

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Business

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...

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Business

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...

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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...