Zimbabwe’s fashion industry not only boasts a variety of skills, but many of them are adjusting their businesses to slow fashion.
Undoubtedly, one of the oldest industries in the world is fashion. No matter how far back in time you travel, you will undoubtedly find evidence of the trade in clothing, shoes, or accessories. Concerns about sustainable fashion practices are prevalent today.
Customers are looking for more sustainable companies as they become more aware of the effects the fashion industry has on the environment.
The urgent need for environmental sustainability should be addressed by the entire planet. In the fashion sector, sustainability has been intimately linked to initiatives that support equality, social justice, animal welfare, and ecological integrity in order to create a carbon-neutral industry.
This goes beyond textiles and products because it considers the entire life cycle of a product, including how clothing are produced, used, and disposed of.
With many manufacturers using eco-friendly materials including natural fibres, raffia, silk, and cotton in the manufacture of clothing, Africa has a long history of sustainability.
Due to their use of eco-friendly colours, African textiles like Ghana’s Kente and Mali’s Bogolanfini serve as examples of how eco-friendly fashion production may be done on the continent.
Given that designers encourage indigenous artisanal skill and workmanship, the African fashion ecosystem benefits a wide range of industry participants. Brands like Ayissi, MaXhosa, and Nkwo have spearheaded the sustainable fashion movement on the continent.
A new raise of Zimbabwean designers are responding to the need for sustainability in fashion as they are developing products from upcycled materials.
Brands such as Zuvva, Zimbabwean Sunshine, Rozebowl, and more have generated a movement of green fashion in the country. Events such as the Skeyi and Strobo Fabrik Party are one of the sites that honour this community, with local brands showing their work on the runway.
Learn about these brands and more in the list below.
Bakhar
Bakhar is a luxury brand created for the person who thrives on authenticity and style with an edge. Bakhar Black woman wearing Bakhar Bakhar is a high-end brand.
Yolanda Ngwenya launched Bakhar in April 2016, and since then it has accomplished a number of remarkable feats. The Durban Fashion Fair, a Bakhar gown display in New York, Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, and the Ibumba Festival are just a few of the presentations.
The Bakhar’s current production process incorporates hand painting, natural dyeing, working with textiles that require less water, such as recycled denim, using offcuts to create looks, upcycling, and using environmentally friendly packaging techniques.
To emphasise the rich culture and tradition of Africans, Bakhar is currently developing a collection that integrates the sustainable production techniques of African tribes.
Paper pieces
Rungano Nyamayedenga, who has a BSc in Gender Studies, learned how to make paper beads by hand from her aunt in 2016. She started using this talent in 2018 to launch the sustainable jewellery line Paper Pieces, which upcycles paper to make various-shaped beads that are used to make earrings and necklaces.
To demonstrate how local hairdressers can be a part of an eco-conscious ecosystem where they learn how to creatively manage waste, the paper used is sourced from them. The jewelery is then carefully crafted for anyone who values regionally made goods and wants to express themselves through colour.
The drawstring bags used to package each item were created from scraps of fabric gathered from a Zimbabwean cotton printing business that went out of business in 2011.
Patch Maokoe Zimbabwe
Chido Kaseke, the company’s creator and creative director, came up with the concept for PatCh Maokoe Zimbabwe in 2014 as a result of her passion for making the most out of seemingly insignificant materials.
This evolved into a slow fashion business that uses biodegradable hessian fibre to create handcrafted handbags. Since 2014, Kaseke has cultivated her passion and trained herself how to make handbags, passing on her knowledge to her full-time female employees who are the recipients of PatCh Maokoe Zimbabwe’s internal skills training programme.
Due to the fact that PatCh Maokoe produces everything by hand, very little electricity is used throughout the manufacturing process. The brand’s supply chain is completely localised, resulting in products created entirely in Zimbabwe.
Rozebowl
Purchased Rozebowl with work clothes and red and blue trousers.Albutler Chivige and Jackson Chifamba founded Rozebowl as a side business after noticing a void in the market for personalised denim jeans.
They set out to develop fashionable items using repurposed materials after being inspired by American designer Murda Bravado of Who Decides War and the way he expressed his religion through his art.
They later displayed Rozebowl at the Skeyi and Strobo Fabrik Party and are one of the companies driving the latest Zimbabwean fashion movement.
Zuvva
In 1991, Joyce Nyagmbo Chimanye began working in the fashion industry as an intern in a Coh Coh/Taig factory in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Currently, Chimanye serves on the boards of both the Fashion Council of Zimbabwe (FCoZ) and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. She founded the lifestyle company Zuvva in 2004.
It specialises in the design, manufacture, and distribution of clothes, jewellery, and leather products.
The fabric is made of natural fibres, primarily 100% Zimbabwean cotton, together with foreign silks, linens, and denim.
Zuvva primarily uses a monochromatic colour scheme, and she has had the chance to exhibit on runways and in showrooms throughout a number of nations, including South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States.
Zimbabwean Sunshine
When asked about her brand’s motivation, Michelle Craig said, “I chose to develop a brand for Zimbabweans to proudly wear their nation and its storylines on their sleeves.
The creation of Michelle Craig, is a company committed to upholding the legacy of using art, skill, and craft to tell the tales of Zimbabwe and its people.
Craig pursued her education in fashion design in the Netherlands, staying true to her roots while she developed her brand.
Sunshine upcycles textiles into intriguing new pieces of art that encourage its consumers to dress stylishly while adhering to sustainable fashion principles.
J-Sabelo
J-Sabelo was born as a platform where Jana Mhlaba expressed her creativity and visual creations whilst studying Fashion Design in Berlin. Her designs are largely inspired by traditional Ndebele symbolism as well as organic forms in the context of streetwear.
She translated her ideas to fabric and was part of numerous collaborations including a sustainability-focused project with the startup Wearex aimed at reimagining up-cycled clothing for a broader market .
Jana is heavily invested in upcycling as she shared that she aims to change the mindset of “throw away culture” when it comes to clothes.
Char Designz
The company Char Designz, which focuses on individuality and self-expression via sustainability, is represented by Charmaine Nziradzemhuka. Nziradzemhuka, who studied fashion at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, is passionate about encouraging young females to pursue their aspirations.
Customers can customise clothing at Char Designz to suit their individual tastes. The company has also implemented a repurposing tool that enables users to make new fashionable designs out of existing wardrobe items.
ETH
On World Environment Day in June 2022, ETH launched the Earth bag (Ebeg), a tote bag campaign meant to cut down on plastic litter. In Zimbabwe, most retail purchases are still contained in plastic bags, thus the founders of Ebeg saw an opportunity to use fashion to make retail purchases more environmentally friendly.
The creator of ETH, Ngaatendwe Mapako, emphasised the necessity for sustainable practises by saying that “the biggest threat to our planet is thinking that someone else will solve the pollution issue.” Ngaatendwe is dedicated to tackling climate change because ETH has been a credible voice in highlighting the value of leading a sustainable lifestyle.
