The whole world seems to be obsessed with the African design and culture, however, their fashion industry does not seem to be making any impact on the rest of the community worldwide.

African fashion and its designers are a growing interest in North America and Europe, however, designers within the region [Africa] are still on their way of finding a sustainable market locally. The director of Africa Fashion Week in New York, confirms that quite a few of their participants are operating directly out of Africa. Moreover, 50-75% of the designers originate from Africa as well as many designers from U.S. and U.K., who outsource to Africa.

Adiat Disu, apart from being the director of AFW, also holds a position of a president in Adirée, which focuses on rebranding Africa and making it a luxury destination. Until this day, it has generated $100,000 in financing for African artisans and designers to showcase their works in the United States. One of the designers that has made a go of it in Africa – Ally Rehmtullah, explains that due to the lack of exposure, many don’t know the potential of African fashion. He also points out Western market’s interest in Africa’s fashion and many designers, that are trying to incorporate African prints in their designs.

Overall, the opportunities in Africa have increased, however, there is still room to grow. There are more platforms for designers to show-off their work nowadays, such as Kenya Fashion Week in Kenya, Swahili Fashion Week in Tanzania, which wasn’t present five years ago and which is a sign of growth in the industry. There are still many issues nevertheless, such as Chinese domination in the textile industry, unavailability of fabrics, lack of international presence and lack of industry-related education.

African fashion industry is an issue that is as complex as the African prints themselves, however, the potential of the African fashion market is huge in both value and size.

“With 900 million potential customers, why wouldn’t the world be interested in tapping into such a market?”