The Money Is the Wrong Shape
The year Beyoncé wore her clothes, Sarah Diouf was still, in effect, her own bank. Building the label meant buying fabric before the money came back and paying tailors before the invoices settled, then finding cash for the samples, the shoots, the customs paperwork and the long quiet months between one burst of global attention […]
How Dakar Moves
The Ancien Palais de Justice has no business being as beautiful as it is. It is an abandoned colonial courthouse out on Cap Manuel, the sea right behind it, the concrete going soft at the corners, the kind of building the city has been meaning to deal with for as long as I have been […]
Africa Grows the Cotton. A Dakar Gathering Asks Who Profits.
The most important fashion event in Dakar this year had less to do with fashion than with industry. For three days in March, the Centre des Expositions de Diamniadio drew manufacturers, policymakers, textile producers, leather experts, investors, designers, entrepreneurs and development partners from across Africa and beyond, gathered for the inaugural Africa Sourcing & Fashion […]
After the Applause: Heritage Textiles and the Economics of the Runway Moment
Florentina Agu went back to the wood carving workshops she had visited as a child, and many of the artisans her family had once worked with were dead. The ones still alive were in difficult circumstances. Agu’s father had run a wood carving studio in Nigeria that produced parquet flooring and carved objects for sale […]
Celebrating Roots and Defying Borders: The Journey of Bledard – African Denim Revolution
Bledard is much more than just a clothing brand. It’s a movement, a celebration of our African roots and our diversity. Each piece tells a story, our story, one of a journey filled with culture, knowledge, and emotions. Ibrahima Gueye, Founder of Bledard From Senegal to France: The Roots of Ibrahima Gueye Ibrahima Gueye, the […]