African Textile Talks 2023

Sunny Dolat presented African Textiles – Vessels of Memory, Identities and Heritage.

Learning about how and why textiles were and are still used today was fascinating.

For hundreds of years in East Africa, cloth has been used to speak and communicate messages. The kanga cloth, made from cotton and handwoven is used for different occasions (weddings, funerals, baptisms and in modern-day elections). Today, it is also sold as a tourist product in the markets where, sadly, the understanding and value of this cloth aren't understood, and the purchase is based on the aesthetic rather than the message.

Kente cloth is a Ghanaian textile handwoven with strips of silk and cotton. Historically, the fabric was worn toga-like by royalty among the Akan. It originated from Bonwire in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The Naming cloth is a blend of cotton and sisal, and in Kenya, we have the Mud cloth, while in Uganda, there is the Barkcloth.

All these textiles were hand-woven, and many still are, but countries like China have taken to imitate the wax print, and the Dutch have done their mass producing as well.

A panel discussion titled ‘Africa’s Sustainable Material World’

Panellists included Sappi’s general manager of sustainability Krelyne Andrew, Noreen Mwancha from Kenya’s textile innovator Rethread Africa, Cape Wools SA’s CEO Deon Saayman and Mauritius DDI’s Carolina Li. Esethu Cenga of Rewoven moderated this panel.

We learnt fascinating facts about viscose, the source of which is from South Africa. SAPPI are the largest landowners in SA, and their forests are often grown on degraded land. They are FSC-certified. (no deforestation).

Noreen Mwancha is based in Nairobi and from Kenya’s textile innovator Rethread Africa, shared her incredible journey of growing ‘green jobs’ for women and the youth. She explained how many crops were grown in rural areas e.g., pineapple leaves can be turned into yarns and woven into fabrics, and in a bag, she carried, she shared the other interesting yarns and textiles they make.

Deon Saayman spoke about the Cape wool clip and his journey with mohair. Carolina Li is Mauritius-based and shared her journey with denim and her recycling plant for denim.

Farm to Fabric: A Story from a Karoo mohair studio Frances van Hasselt:

An emotionally moving talk and presentation on mohair. An authentic story from the herdsmen to the final products. The pullback to hand-made from mass-made and how this can positively impact our rural areas and small towns in our country. Her learning to stop fighting and work with what you have, how her surroundings became her design inspiration and the lessons on simplicity. Each spinner has their own personality which is so deeply entwined in their final products that it becomes their signature.

H&M South Africa envisions a sustainable global fashion system by Caroline Nelson, Country manager of SA:

An interesting journey that H&M has walked since 1947 when it started as a small shop in Sweden. 24% of their fabrics used are recycled. They take back gently worn clothes that are sorted and then resold while unsold clothes are turned into toys and what is unused is used as mattress filling.

Certified organic textiles from Africa by Muktar Dodo: Global Organic Textiles Standard’s Africa (GOTS) representative. He spoke about and the need to reinvigorate Africa’s textile ecosystems while leading with organic textiles. Muktar discussed why organic textiles are important in fashion and how the African textile industry can overcome greenwashing claims to produce truly sustainable textiles.

Lukhanyo Mdingi introduced the film Burkina Faso, a journey into the provenance of the 2022 Lukhanyo Mdingi collection Burkina, in honour of the CABES Textile Community in Burkina Faso.

We are in an African renaissance, that is honesty and Integrity based, its slow and steady design and making. CRAFT is vital.

How design influences the future textile economy

Panellists included textile designer Tinyiko Makwakwa, fashion designer Natalie Green from INKE Knitwear, and Merchants on Long’s fashion buyer Sumendra Chetty. Moderated by Bielle Bellingham.

As pioneers in creating our futures, designers aim to design out waste and keep materials in use for as long as possible. This could mean designing with fabric waste, upcycling discarded materials, incorporating recycled materials, working with regeneratively farmed fibres, and designing durable garments that are easy to disassemble and recycle at end-of-life. This panel discussion unpacks the importance of the creative economy, the well-being economy, and shifting cultural practices.

We are literally change agents and mass production leads to destruction. We are speaking to conscious consumers who are asking tough questions and we need to heed those. An example of the Karoo winter wool festival where farmers, designers, makers, retailers, and media can gather in nature amongst the sheep, interact with the raw fibre and form a connectedness has been praised.

We need to bring the industry people together to meet face-to-face and to engage.

Failure then reframes. We need to become experimental and re-introduce our curiosity. The previous revolution was the industrial revolution we now have the sustainable revolution. We cannot dominate nature.

Tinyiko Makwakwa, believes that we need to get out into the townships, find the makers, and respect their skills and crafts that have been passed down from one generation to another. Pay them a living wage not the minimum wage.

There is so much knowledge here and it's not found on Instagram or Google. Brands are easy to find because they do so much marketing, but these indigenous communities with so many skills need to be discovered. They are on the ground doing the work, so start bottom up and not top down. We need to do some value mapping!

The OR Foundation explains how textile waste in Ghana inspires the rethinking of the global textile system.

Samuel Oteng, Kennie MacCarthy and Yvette Ya Konadu Obieley Dickson-Tetteh from The Or Foundation will share insights from their research and supporting circular textile solutions in one of the biggest second-hand markets in the world, the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana.

Visiting Cape Town, they will speak about the need for a new justice-led and circular textile economy. Find out more about The OR Foundation here.

It was disturbing to learn that Europe dump 50 million kgs of garments a week in Katamanto Market. Where it is re-sorted, some can be repaired and sold while the rest goes into a waste chain (no retail value) this ultimately gets dumped into the sea.

30.8% of what is dumped is cotton and can be used and recycled.

The OR Foundation has been collecting data on the toxicology of the water and the earth based on the impact of the micro fibres and fabrics. They believe that the people closest to the problem have the solutions. This database is building over time.

District Six Museum: Memory and cloth

Curator at District Six museum, Tina Smith, shows how cloth and stitch have the power to heal a community, document a history and bring an archive to life. Joining Tina are Patience Watlington, Jean Pretorius and Sylvia Ganget. Find out more about the District Museum project here.

Our takeaway from this event is that WE ALL have a responsibility in the textile space, on this continent and we need to think PAN AFRICAN and not South Africa. The South African Textile and fibre industry doesn’t know it all. We can learn a lot from the countries north of us, made-by-hand, hand weaving, and hand dyeing, different crops that are used in vegetable fibres They have some extraordinary skills and knowledge!