Heritage

Kenya’s fashion industry joins world to mark Revolution Day

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Models shows off clothes designed by Kiko Romeo during past fashion shows in Nairobi. Ethical fashion businesses exist in Kenya. Photos/FILE

The Kenyan fashion industry joined the rest of the world to mark a year since the collapse of factory at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh which killed over 1,000 people.

The anniversary, dubbed Fashion Revolution Day, was meant “to call for better connections and transparency across the entire fashion supply chain.”
The theme of the anniversary was ‘‘Who Made Your Clothes?’’

More than 50 countries participated in the event, held on April 24, and meant to raise awareness on socio-economic issues associated with the global fashion industry and show that change is possible.

“We want the world to know that we have our own fashion industry. We have designers who are entrepreneurs, who employ and subcontract lots of people, who take care of their workers, and that our businesses are often collaborations between the entrepreneur and his or her tailors and artisans,” said Ann McCreath, Kiko Romeo founder and CEO.

Ms McCreath was leading the Kenyan campaign with the assistance of stylists Sunny Dolat and Alice Karunditu. Change starts with consumers asking, ‘‘who made my clothes?’’ she said.

Ms McCreath said she was asked to organise the event during a recent visit to the Ethical Fashion Forum in London.

Having spoken on Ethical Fashion and African Fashion at the forum, she realised that there was need for African brands to speak up on international fashion issues.

“Kenya is being talked about as a great place for ethical production, but nobody knows fashion entrepreneurs in Kenya — those of us designers who have set up a brand, a workshop, who design, make and run a business,” said Ms McCreath.

Organisers said they believe in an industry that values people, the environment, creativity and profit in equal measure.

Organisers took the opportunity to show that ethical fashion businesses exist in Kenya, even while they are unknown in the global market.

“We would like to claim market access for products of local design businesses so that we in turn can have a larger impact on those who work for us. We are also hoping to start a change towards increased local consumption of East African and African textile products in a bid to create more jobs. We would also like to increase consumer knowledge on the availability and diversity of local products,” said Ms McCreath.

To mark the day, there was an exhibition, a spoken word competition organised by Caroline Nderitu and Sitawa Namwalie and a debate at the Yaya Centre, Nairobi.

The debate was on local versus international sourcing and “Fashion Miles” i.e. how many miles a garment has travelled from a cotton farmer to the end wearer.

The spoken word activity is unique to Kenya and links concerns of the fashion supply chain to the youth.

The activity got them to think about the origin of their clothes and whether it is important to them.

“In my opinion, we should care about job creation and development of the nation. We should care if our garment is cheap because others haven’t been paid a living wage.

‘‘We should care about developing our local textile industry, it is usually the biggest job creator for any developing nation. Most of us have a relative who is interested in fashion, whether to be a designer or a tailor or a weaver or even a cotton farmer,” said Ms McCreath.

She said that second-hand clothes give ‘‘an artificial idea’’ of what a garment should cost.

Although the sub-sector employs a lot of people, she said, if retailers of mitumba were to sell new made-in-Kenya clothes more jobs would be created.

The Kenyan textile industry is being reorganised under the African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation and Kenya Association of Manufacturers to support homegrown products.

The Fashion Revolution Day also offered a platform for highlighting challenges facing the industry and changes needed to make Kenyans more interested in local textile products.

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