Fashion Africa: It's about Breaking Free from the Resource Curse

To be fair, the report does not dwell too much on the past, and goes straight into how many African fashion producers consciously have "cast themselves as agents of socio-cultural change who contributed to the self-fashioning of their countries and continent, whilst also promoting economic growth and generating employment opportunities."

It says: "Thanks to their unique heritage, unreplicable technical skills, and distinctive creative vision, contemporary African fashion designers connect the dots between the past and present, tapping into their cultural roots to create clothes and accessories that help to shape unique and ever-renewed visual narratives about the identity and aspirations of the continent."

The African fashion landscape is dotted with countless micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), “which tend to serve a hyper-local market with ready-to-wear and made-to-order clothes and accessories. High-fashion brands do exist today, but they are few and far between, and are mostly concentrated in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa. Then there is today’s growing apparel export sector, which caters to Western brands and retailers.

But, Africa is deep-rooted in its own textiles, and the natural fibres that they come from. Cotton, by far, is the primary natural fibre. As many as 37 of the 54 African countries grow cotton, though the yield, volume and quality vary among them. Cotton is also a predominant cash crop for many African Least Developed Countries (LDCs), providing income to over 3.5 million farmers. Organic cotton too figures in the discussion. The organic cotton fibre output in Sub-Saharan Africa grew by over 90% from 2019 to 2020, and accounted for 7.3% of global organic cotton production.

Significant quantities of wool are manufactured in Southern and Northern African countries, and silk is produced in in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Namibia, and South Africa. Then, there are the artisanal fibres of raffia (Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria) and tree bark (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Uganda). Jute, kenaf, coir, flax, sisal, ramie, kapok, and abaca—all are produced and used, though to a lesser extent.

All this would make Africa the land of plenty. It does, but it is also here that the Black Hole lies—a lot of the cotton disappears out of Africa. The report underlines: “In 2022, while African cotton fibre production accounted for 7.5% of global production, sub-Saharan countries exported more than 81% of the raw cotton they produced rather than transforming and using it locally. By exporting most of its raw fibres, the continent sees a consistent significant loss in the potential economic value of these crops and restricts the growth of the textile and fashion value chain in Africa.

There are few who buck this trend. “Egypt, the eleventh largest exporter of raw cotton globally in 2022, also transforms a significant quantity of fibres domestically to meet national demand and feed its flourishing textile industry. Both Egyptian cotton fibre and fabric have a reputation for quality, and the Cotton Egypt Association has developed an Egyptian Cotton appellation to distinguish its product on the market, ensuring traceability through DNA tests.

“Similarly, Ethiopia strives to link its fibre production to its textile production as part of its recent drive to develop its garments sector. In 2020, the country produced 57,000 metric tonnes of cotton fibre, satisfying a significant part of demand from domestic spinning mills, estimated at 64,000 metric tonnes.”

The hope also lies in influential fashion designers like Alphadi, the Nigerien also known by the sobriquet ‘Magician of the Desert’. His comments in the report probably sum up a lot of the past, present and future of African fashion: “African textiles must be given a chance. They must be produced on the African continent. I am in favour of limiting the entry of imported textiles into the continent.

“I have difficulty purchasing large quantities of textiles from Africa. I refuse to import, and it directly impacts my production capacities as well as my costs. It is not normal. Africa should have the capacity to industrially produce textiles. It is difficult to make ready-to-wear collections with these constraints. Our fashion remains reserved for a minority because of production costs.”

Clubbing all countries of a continent together can never be fair, or even logical. There cannot be one “African fashion”—there are at least 54 African fashions. For the same reason, summing up challenges can be a thankless task too. But the report quite deftly weaves together the common threads, and poses them as a fabric with five distinct features:

1. The patchwork of support policies currently in place in most countries;
2. The insufficient implementation of intellectual property rights in the fashion sector;
3. The gaps in fashion education and training;
4. The lack of structured investments and infrastructure; and
5. Specific market challenges and environmental concerns. 

These challenges can be surmounted, and the report lists out four sets of recommendations. It also details sector-specific growth levers. 

Yet, somewhere in the report, this is outlined: “The unique opportunity presented by the availability of high-quality local fibres, the rich array of handwoven, hand-processed or industrial textiles produced on the continent, and the strength of the demand for African designs means that the sector is ripe for new investments and policies.”

Unless, the West reads “ripe for investment” as “ripe for plunder.”