Lecture7：Considering Clothing Production from the Clothing Disposal Site

Lecture 7 was held, and we would like to introduce a part of the lecture and what the semifinalists learned/new perspectives they noticed.

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　　Lecturer / Theme

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Lecturer: Ms. Ann McCreath (Fashion Designer)

Theme: Considering Clothing Production from the Clothing Disposal Site

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　　Profile

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Ann McCreath is a multi-faceted fashion designer and entrepreneur. Born in Scotland, she trained in Alta Moda in Rome and worked in fashion in Milan and Barcelona before setting up KikoRomeo in Kenya in 1996. The brand is a pioneer in sustainable fashion, fostering development of craft skills and leveraging higher wages through cutting-edge products. Developing a flexible production model in Kenya, from grassroot rural artisan to the KikoRomeo sampling workshop and garment factories, she was able to manufacture a wide range of standardised products with a unique crafted element. In 2020 her daughter Iona took up the role of Creative Director and Ann increased her teaching work, designing an Africa-relevant sustainable fashion curriculum, based on her lived fashion experiences across the continent. She now mentors many of Africa’s fashion talents and nurtures peer mentoring groups of past alumni.

Ann is passionate about using fashion for positive change, manifested by her founding FAFA in 2008 and its multi-creatives Fashion for Peace shows. These have brought estranged communities together, opening difficult political conversations around a beautiful dress! An expert in low-tech, she has designed & implemented training of artisans and women’s groups for UNHCR, IOM, ITC, and UNWomen.

Articles/Media/Citations:

New African Woman’s Ultimate Power Players of African Fashion (2015), Arise Top 100 Women Influencing Africa (2012), Fashion Africa (Jacqueline Shaw 2014), New African Fashion (Helen Jennings 2011), Fashion Cities Africa (Hannah Azieb Pool 2016) and Business of Fashion. Her articles have been published severally in The East African Standard

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　　Lecture Outline

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The lecture by Ann, a fashion designer based in Nairobi, Kenya, discussed the current state of clothing waste in Kenya and the activities of young African designers who are on the rise. The amount of used clothing imported into Kenya and neighboring African countries has increased significantly, and much of it is sent to landfills because of its quality and design, which are not needed locally. Research on recycling technology is underway, but like Japan and Western countries, Kenya was described as a “clothing landfill in a developed country” because there are many issues with textile recycling that cannot be circulated. Several brands of young designers who use used clothes as materials and create creative works through upcycling were also introduced. However, she said that there is also a strong passion to create textiles and garments from their own countries, not only by upcycling. From their background of being restricted from dressing in their own country during the colonial period, they also want to develop their own country’s fashion as an expression of pride in their own culture. For this reason, she pointed out that they will not be able to continue importing secondhand clothing.

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　　Key Points Learned

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Some of the key points that were learned by the semi-finalists who attended the course and last year’s winners are listed below.

The issue of increased imports of used clothing to Kenya and other African countries has been increasingly discussed as a problem in recent years, and many participants especially commented that hearing about the actual situation from the lecturer, who is actually based in Nairobi, made them think about how they should deal with the issue as designers.

One of the participants who said that they still remember how, at the time of the Tohoku Earthquake in Japan, ‘a large amount of used clothes were delivered to the disaster areas under the guise of support, and many of them became useless and overflowed’ had mixed feelings when they heard that the same problem exists in Kenya, and that ‘the value of new clothes also decreases because of the low value of used clothes.’

In addition, those who had only been able to imagine the existence of such problems from the information they had seen and heard, felt that they were unaware of the true situation when the lecturer said, ‘It is incompatible with zero-waste, etc., which is born from the idea of nuclear families in developed countries,’ and they wanted to ‘see a more realistic’. One stated that one felt strongly that one would like to see the current situation and that one should not be engaged in manufacturing without knowing about it.

On the other hand, the participant who lives in Nairobi ‘eI experience fashion dumping firsthand’ and said that this is ‘motivates me as a designer to be part of the solution’. the semi-finalist then says that one would like to take the FASHION FRONTIER PROGRAM as one step ‘I’m presenting deconstruction and volume in a unique way that aligns with my vision.’

Similar to the lecturer’s approach, another said one has a strong desire to ‘involve the artisans in my local community in my project.’ They have heard stories from weavers who are ‘disappointment that their children no longer wish to learn and carry on their weaving traditions,’ and have heard of artisans who have switched to other trades to earn a living. One also shared one’s thoughts on future projects: ‘I aim to collaborate with these artisans—not only to showcase the beauty of their work but also, in my small way, to help rekindle their joy in their craft.’’

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We will continue to provide an overview of each lecture and what the semifinalists learned from it.

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