Africa news and archive

The tariff trap: Why Lesotho’s “reciprocal" duties hand advantage to regional rivals

Lesotho’s garment industry, once a beacon of industrial growth in Southern Africa, is facing a collapse that unions describe as a “gendered supply chain shock.” Following the US administration’s imposition of “reciprocal” tariffs — which reached as high as 50 percent before settling at a 15 percent surcharge — the mountain kingdom’s largest...

Fashion

Gabon fashion designer brings traditional raffia to Paris runways

Strands of raffia dry outside in the sun at the studio of Gabonese fashion designer Chouchou Lazare, who has made a name for himself using the natural fibres to craft his award-winning garments. The natural material derived from palm leaves -- and traditionally reserved for Gabon's nobles and village chiefs -- gained international attention on...

Fashion

The Kinshasa 'fashion lab' harnessing Central African talent

In an abandoned hangar surrounded by dusty trucks in Kinshasa, young student models strut down a catwalk of artificial grass, showcasing their first-ever collection to their Congolese fashion school peers. Container ships rumble outside in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, but the room holding the makeshift runway in the Regional...

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Fashion

Fifteen years on, Addis Ababa sharpens its focus and looks inward

Hub of Africa Fashion Week (HAFW) has never been about spectacle. Founded by Mahlet Teklemariam, it is an intimate, boutique platform built on care, conversation, and genuine human connection. Today, it stands as the third-largest fashion platform on the African continent, yet its strength has never come from scale alone. Its power lies in...

Fashion

Nigerian designer embraces 'clashes' and 'chaos' at Lagos Fashion Week

Models strutted down the runway, their beaded and sequined dresses evoking the traditional facial scarring still done in some parts of Nigeria. Others donned outfits paying homage to adire, a traditional Yoruba indigo fabric long prized for its craftsmanship. Kanyinsola Onalaja's show kicked off Lagos Fashion Week in style, in what has been a...

Fashion

From waste to runway: Kenyan designers transform used clothes into art

In a dusty alley in the heart of Kenya's largest open-air market, fashion models strut down a makeshift runway in bold, upcycled outfits made from waste collected at dumpsites and market cast-offs -- proof that even trash can dazzle. Every year, thousands of tonnes of used clothes from Europe, the United States, and beyond make their way to...

Retail

US-Africa AGOA agreement on the line: What is the future for African textiles?

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been a cornerstone of trade relations between the US and sub-Saharan Africa since its adoption in 2000. This agreement offers preferential access to the US market for nearly 7,000 products, including textiles and apparel, provided that beneficiary countries meet strict political and economic...

Fashion

Thebe Magugu expands into hospitality with Belmond

South African designer Thebe Magugu will make his debut in luxury hospitality design this December with an exclusive partnership with A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town, bringing his distinctive Afro-modernist vision to the property. In a statement, the Belmond group owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, said Magugu would be...

Fashion

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+,...