Don’t Judge a Book By It’s Cover

Many people think of Africa as a poor continent that is basically useless for business, however, this is most definitely not the case! Wednesday at FIT, I attended the Luxury African Fashion Panel, which consisted of designers from Africa, Egypt and Bolivia. They took this time to talk about Africa as an emerging market for fashion, luxury African fashion, enterprising fashion brands, and their interpretation of the international “Afrofashionista/isto.”

The panelists answering questions from the audience.

Africa has always been an overlooked market for fashion, and it really hurts African designers. Although international business is weak in Africa, top American and European designers are creating garments based on traditional African prints and designs! In many nations throughout Africa, there are designers, like the ones in the panel, which are extremely gifted, but rarely given the opportunity to expand their businesses.

In 2010, Adiat Disu founded Africa Fashion Week in New York. Since then, many African designers have increased their sales globally which always are set to give back to their hometown. One of the designers stated, “creating a brand is creating a purpose,” and many of these designers said that they use their brand to give back to the less fortunate; whether it’s by creating jobs or as part of a charity.

All of the panelists agreed on the statement that the whole idea behind a brand is to rediscover your roots, and to incorporate your background and culture into what you wear. This gives you a feel of his/her personality but remains at the middle point between African and contemporary. In the past, African women used to focus on how to survive and didn’t have the time to worry about what they looked like. Times have changed and it is now time to give African designers a chance in the marketing world.

Overall, this entire presentation was extraordinary, and I left the room knowing much more about the African market than when I had entered.

Fino alla volta prossima!

Gabriela

 

If you would like to know more about the designers or African Fashion Week in New York, check out:

 


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