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KIKI Clothing Nominated for Ethical Brand of the Year 2021

KIKI Clothing Nominated for Ethical Brand of the Year 2021

We at KIKI Clothing were immensely proud to be nominated for Ethical Brand of the Year 2021 in the Wolf & Badger Independents Awards.

Wolf & Badger are a global retail brand, dedicated to promoting independent designers and makers around the world who match their values around sustainability, ethical business practices, and slow fashion cycles. Since they began as a small boutique in London a decade ago, they have championed and sourced stock from independent brands with a demonstrable commitment to doing business in a way that’s better for people and the planet. Their annual Independents Awards is a chance to celebrate stories and successes from independent fashion and design brands and small businesses across the globe. Categories include Carbon Reduction, Organic Beauty Brand, Vegan Alternative Brand, Sustainability and Innovation.

We received a nomination in the Ethical Brand of the Year category, which was a huge honour. This was a result, largely, of the relationship we have with our tailors and the way we try to be a responsible corporate citizen.

As a female-led brand, we create clothes to dress women in a way that makes them feel confident and powerful, but this would ring hollow if we were not working to empower women at every stage. To this end, we predominantly employ female tailors, paying above average wages and keeping their workdays as Monday to Friday, which allows them to use their expertise and sew for themselves on weekends as a side business, should they so choose. Most of our tailors have been at KIKI Clothing for over ten years and are much-loved members of our team.

In addition to this, we partner with non-profit organisations based in Ghana to positively impact the wellbeing of children and teenagers in our communities through education. You can find more information on how we are doing this here

Sustainability is also a fundamental part of our business. One of our favourite ways to reduce waste in our production process is by using material remnants to create patchwork fabric. This is then used to create stunning handbags and, more recently, face masks.

In this way, fabric which would have been sent straight to recycling gets a chance to be made into something beautiful and unique, extending its life cycle and minimising waste.

 Standing woman wearing facemask made of patchwork African print fabric and carrying matching hand bag

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African- Print Fashion Now! Exhibition, Charlotte

African- Print Fashion Now! Exhibition, Charlotte

African- Print Fashion Now! is currently exhibiting at the Mint Museum Randolph till April 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. KIKI Clothing was honoured to be invited to be a part of this amazing presentation of African Fashion and Art.

The exhibition introduces visitors to the Indonesian and Indian roots of these distinctive cloths and to the Dutch and other European printed versions of wax resist Indonesian batiks, which appealed to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century African consumers. This type of printed cloth became central to many “popular” fashion systems in West and Central Africa in spite of its foreign history.

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African-Print Fashion Now!: A Story of Taste, Globalization, and Style (Fowler Museum Textile)

African-Print Fashion Now!: A Story of Taste, Globalization, and Style (Fowler Museum Textile)

Written by Suzanne Gott, Kristyne S. Loughran, Betsy D. Quick and Leslie W. Rabine, African-Print Fashion Now! introduces visitors to a dynamic and diverse African dress tradition and the increasingly interconnected fashion worlds that it inhabits: “popular” African-print styles created by local seamstresses and tailors across the continent; international runway fashions designed by Africa’s newest generation of couturiers; and boundary-breaking, transnational, and youth styles favored in Africa’s urban centers. 

Popular African styles from Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and Senegal are featured, as well as groundbreaking runway fashions by some of Africa’s most talented couturiers: Ituen Basi, Gilles Touré, Lanre da Silva Ajayi, Titi Ademola, Lisa Folawiyo, Dent de Man, Adama Paris, Patricia Waota, Ikiré Jones, and Afua Dabanka.

Available on Amazon now!

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African- Print Fashion Now! Exhibition, Los Angeles

African- Print Fashion Now! Exhibition, Los Angeles

African- Print Fashion Now! is currently exhibiting at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles. KIKI Clothing had the pleasure of being a part of this incredible curation of African Fashion and Art. If you're in the LA area, be sure to take a look!

 

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Lupita Nyong'o featured in KIKI Clothing for Vogue US Magazine

Lupita Nyong'o featured in KIKI Clothing for Vogue US Magazine

KIKI Clothing was delighted to be featured in this magnificent spread in the October 2016 edition of Vogue US where the Oscar winning actress Lupita Nyong'o speaks on her desire to broaden the "African Voice" and her latest film Queen of Katwe. Photographed by renown photographer Mario Testino, styled by Tonne Goodman and worn in KIKI Clothing!

Watch the behind scenes video of Luptia Nyong'o and Mario Testino at the Ratta Mixed Secondary school in Kisumu County, where students were gifted Soular backpacks invented by Salima Visram, Lupita’s family friend. 

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ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative & Altaroma Altamoda, Rome

ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative & Altaroma Altamoda, Rome

Africa to Rome was a result of a collaboration between the International Trade Center’s Ethical Fashion Initiative and Italy’s Altaroma Altamoda, also known as Rome Fashion Week. It was designed to give global attention to African artisans. The Ethical Fashion Initiative is an ongoing UN mission that works to help women in Africa make their craftsmanship available to the market and it’s an awesome empowering way to fight poverty. The Ethical Fashion runway show featured African designer brands Christie Brown, Portenier Roth, Stella Jean and KIKI Clothing. KIKI Clothing was honoured to take part in a show that has a worthy cause…the Ethical Fashion Initiative’s motto, “not charity, just work” is a slogan close to KIKI Clothing’s heart!  

 

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