Africa Textile Talks 2025: Weaving Circularity, Wool, and Culture Into the Future of Fashion
“The Cape once dressed a nation. Now it’s being dressed by the rest of the world.” — Ilse Menck, Menck Clothing That line, delivered in Cape Town, set the tone for Africa Textile Talks 2025 (ATT). Organised by sustainability platform Twyg, ATT has grown into one of the continent’s most important gatherings on fashion, textiles, […]
Cowrie Shells Carry Africa’s Past Into Fashion’s Future
When Beyoncé appeared in Black Is King, her face veiled in a mask of cowrie shells, the world saw ornament. Africans saw memory. These glossy shells once banned, once branded “demonic” had returned to the global stage, shimmering with pride. Behind them stood Lafalaise Dion, the Ivorian designer who has become the “Queen of Cowries,” […]
Sindiso Khumalo Debuts Flagship Store in Cape Town as a Love Letter to African Craft
There are many facets to Sindiso Khumalo: She is, foremost, a designer whose textiles are instantly recognizable for their bold colors and hand-drawn prints. She is a storyteller who weaves African and Black history into contemporary fashion, creating a compelling bridge between different eras of design. Beyond that, she is an architect by training, an […]
Introducing Guzangs Designer Profiles: Archiving and Amplifying African Fashion
African fashion is in a moment of radical visibility. With it comes a responsibility: to document, archive, and build sustainable pathways for the designers shaping its future. Today, Guzangs launches Designer Profiles, a curated series dedicated to spotlighting the visionaries driving contemporary African fashion. This inaugural installment explores the creative journeys, signature works, and cultural […]
WORN OUT — Part III: Return to Sender
How African Designers Are Reclaiming Waste and Rewriting Fashion’s Future The bales arrive as they always have — compressed, labeled, shipped across oceans like cargo without conscience. They still overwhelm ports and markets, a visible symptom of a system that hasn’t stopped. But something has shifted in how they’re received. Across Accra, Cairo, Dakar, workshops […]
TWYG Africa Textile Talks 2025: Where Africa’s Textile Legacy Fuels Industry Change
This July, Cape Town will host a major gathering focused on the future of textiles in Africa. From 28 July to 1 August 2025, Africa Textile Talks returns with a three-day summit and a five-day exhibition at the V&A Waterfront. Set between Workshop17 and Church House, the event will bring together designers, researchers, artisans, policymakers, […]
Where Meaning Meets Material: Dahomey Paris and the Soul of Luxury
The first time I spoke with Farid Hounkponou, I realized this wasn’t going to be a regular chat about fashion. He didn’t start by talking about trends or collections. Instead, he talked about people, stories, and why every piece of clothing should mean something. “Dahomey Paris brings together the soul of African tradition and the […]
WORN OUT — Part II: How African Governments Are Responding to the Textile Waste Crisis
Western wardrobes don’t end in Europe or North America. They spill quietly, devastatingly onto African soil, packed into shipping containers and sold in open-air markets under the guise of “donations.” But from Accra to Kigali, Dakar to Lusaka, something is shifting. The bales keep arriving. The markets keep choking. But across the continent, a patchwork […]
Dakar Sound Project: How Senegal’s Youth Are Remixing Fashion, Music, and Memory
Photographer Khaled Fhemy Mamah and stylist Hélène Redolfi created Dakar Sound Project to document how the city’s music culture shows up in what people wear. Shot at Maison de la Culture Urbaine, Torobee Distribution (a vinyl archive), and across Dakar’s streets, the editorial pairs models with instruments—saxophones, trumpets, synthesizers—and clothes from local designers working in […]
The Designer Turning Senegal’s Waste Crisis into a Luxury Brand
Designer Moctar Ba transforms discarded materials into premium accessories while proving sustainability can drive African luxury In his Dakar workshop, Moctar Ba holds up a vibrant advertising banner that once promoted a telecom company across Senegal’s capital. Within weeks, it will become a €250 backpack sold to customers in Paris and Brussels. This transformation from […]