Africa: Guinean Entrepreneur Mariama Camara Promotes African Textiles Worldwide

Guinean textile entrepreneur Mariama Camara is moving from promoting African textiles globally to building the institutions behind the industry. Through the Institute of African… Read more »

South Africa: Navi Pillay's Nobel Win Draws Attention To Her Work Defending Media Freedom And Beyond

Recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for her efforts to promote peace and international law, Navi Pillay is being celebrated by African media, legal and civil society voices… Read more »

Kenya: The Researchers Building Kenya's Cotton Industry From The Seed Up

At Kirinyaga University, researchers are testing whether Kenya can produce quality Bt cotton seed locally. The trials could help improve supply and lower costs, but taking the… Read more »

Africa: How Africa Can Capture More Value From Its Cotton

As World Cotton Day approaches on 7 October, Africa has an opportunity to consider how its cotton industry can contribute more to agricultural development, employment and economic… Read more »

Burkina Faso: Women Weavers Give Faso Dan Fani Fresh Momentum

Faso Dan Fani, Burkina Faso's distinctive woven cloth, is evolving with the growth of organic cotton, efforts to combat counterfeiting and improvements in weaving techniques. The… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Fashion Value Lies In The Stories Only Africans Can Tell

South African designer Wanda Lephoto argues that Africa’s competitive advantage in fashion is not only its fibre or factories, but the cultural knowledge, inherited craft and… Read more »

Cameroon: Cameroon Cotton Farmers Pair Improved Seed With Nature-Based Methods

In Cameroon’s northern cotton belt, growers are combining carefully controlled seed multiplication with trees, crop residue and water-conserving field design to improve… Read more »

Zambia: A Lusaka Bag Maker Is Sewing a Bigger Future For Zambia's Youth

Money saved from selling bracelets helped 25-year-old Brian Hamubotu establish a growing bag-manufacturing business that employs and trains 14 young Zambians. Now he wants a larger… Read more »

Burkina Faso: From Cotton to Uniforms, Burkina Faso Boosts its Textile Industry

By introducing traditional fabrics into school, judicial and military uniforms, as well as some public-service attire, Burkina Faso is seeking to create a sustainable market for… Read more »

Nigeria: Lagos Fashion Week Looks Beyond The Catwalk To Fashion's Future

A new coalition is challenging African fashion to turn its long traditions of repair, reuse and community production into a modern industrial strategy that keeps more jobs,… Read more »

Ghana: A Garment Hub Puts Northern Ghana To Work

Northshore Apparel is turning industrial ambition into formal jobs in Savelugu. Its next phases could connect those sewing lines to northern Ghana’s farmers and build a… Read more »

Kenya: Kenya Rebuilds The Cotton Chain From Field To Fabric

Farmers are returning to cotton in coastal Kenya, while a new ginnery and one of the country's few surviving integrated textile mills are rebuilding links from field to factory. Read more »

Africa: Africa's Factories Are Becoming Their Own Power Stations

Textile plants, mines and export zones are building their own electricity systems, creating a growing role for independent producers as African factories seek to avoid… Read more »

Africa: Loza Maléombho Is Building An Industry From African Stories

Internationally recognised after Beyoncé wore her designs, Ivorian designer Loza Maléombho is now looking beyond fashion. Through Pokou, she is combining… Read more »

Ethiopia: Ethiopia Connects Climate Solutions From Field To Factory

As rainfall becomes less predictable, researchers are developing improved seed, testing more efficient irrigation and using digital tools to track water losses. Getting these… Read more »

Kenya: Kenya's Cotton Leftovers Are Finding New Value

Kenyan businesses and community groups are turning discarded cotton stalks, gin waste and textile offcuts into briquettes, household textiles and mattress filling. The emerging… Read more »

Cameroon: Garoua Textile Centre Takes Early Steps To Empower Young Women

A new training centre in Garoua is teaching young women to turn locally grown cotton thread into finished fabric. Still operating on a modest scale, Gaaraadji is creating incomes,… Read more »

Africa: Is This The Bandage For Africa's Rising Medical Fabrics Demand?

Local cotton manufacturing moves into surgical textiles as Africa seeks import alternatives and channels more fibre into homegrown factories. Read more »

Africa: The Trade Pact That Could Stitch Africa's Textile Industry Together

The AfCFTA offers African cotton, textile and clothing businesses the opportunity to build cross-border production networks, attract investment and retain more value on the… Read more »

Uganda: Direct Sales Give Eastern Uganda's Cotton Farmers a Stronger Hand

Cotton farmers in eastern Uganda are bypassing village middlemen and selling collectively or directly to ginneries. The emerging model is giving growers greater control over… Read more »

Ghana: Ghana's Kente Protection Opens New Economic Possibilities

Ghana’s geographical indication for kente could help weavers protect the celebrated cloth from imitation, reach new markets and earn more from generations of skill. Turning… Read more »

Benin: How Benin Is Turning Its Cotton Wealth Into An Industrial Economy

Benin is using its position as West Africa’s largest cotton producer to pursue a bigger economic prize: processing more of what it grows at home. At the Glo-Djigbé… Read more »

Nigeria: Akwete Weavers Carry An Igbo Textile Tradition Into Modern Fashion

Once primarily worn as wrappers and ceremonial dress, Akwete cloth is finding new life in contemporary clothing and university training. Weavers, educators and heritage specialists… Read more »

Africa: Inside The $5 Billion Plan To Keep Africa's Cotton Jobs In Africa

Africa grows plenty of cotton. It just does not make much of it into clothes. A new $5 billion plan aims to change that, turning a scattered collection of cotton producers into a… Read more »

Zambia: A Harvest That Keeps Zambia's Children Learning

In a farming settlement in southern Zambia, families use income from a drought-resilient crop to buy uniforms and books, meet college costs and put food on the table. Farmers say… Read more »