The African Designers Turning Western Waste into Fashion Statements

Clothing waste has become an enormous environmental problem, particularly so in Africa, where huge quantities overwhelm landfills. In an effort to reverse the trend and spotlight the problem, a new generation of designers is finding creative ways to upcycle discards into desirable fashion. Yayra Agbofah, founder of creative studio The Revival, takes you on a virtual trip through the narrow alleys of Kantamanto second-hand clothing market in Accra, Ghana, via FaceTime. Kampala-based Kolade, founder and creative director of Buzigahill, didn’t set out to create garments from discarded fabric. Sel Kofiga, interdisciplinary artist and founder and creative director of Accra-based Slum Studio, has created a limited collection of colourful hand-painted shirts and pants from used fabrics that display abstract scenes of markets in Accra in vibrant splashes of pink and blue.

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