The fashion industry has been courting Africa for some time now: prominent fashion editors expressed an interest in the continent (two years ago Vogue Italia's Franca Sozzani even tried to "rebrand Africa"...); conferences about key emerging markets of the future often mentioned Africa as a source of opportunity (remember "The Promise of Africa" summit in 2012?); fashion houses and brands including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Max Mara's Max&Co. and Carmina Campus often developed dedicated projects to manufacture in Africa special or limited edition products and capsule collections.
Just a few months ago, when Nigeria became Africa's largest economy and the 26th largest economy in the world, many financial journalists wondered if luxury brands were going to finally start examining more carefully options for expansion and investments into the local market with dedicated stores.
Yet, quite often and rather sadly, big plans involving Africa end up in a superficial or temporary interest, but, luckily, there are people who are genuinely determined to change things. Take Erin Brennan Allan's Kenya-based Toto Knits.
Brennan Allan moved to Kenya soon after 9/11, and, throughout the years, she found a way to produce locally organic cotton yarn, put together her own workforce of craftswomen and launched her childrenswear brand producing made to order knits that are currently shipped worldwide.
Toto Knits' designs (by the way, most of them are unisex) include clothes and accessories, from tops inspired by safari or farm animals (complete with little ears and tails for extra fun) to accessories such as hats, gloves, scarfs, booties and blankets, all in the softest organic cotton yarn.
It may take time to make a difference, but it is not impossible to build a sustainable and ethical business that genuinely helps people, and Brennan Allan has proved that Africa is not a market ready to be exploited, but an important source of opportunity offering the skills of talented artisans and craftspeople.
What inspired you to start Toto Knits and how did it all start?
Erin Brennan Allan: I was living in New York and working for a magazine, then 9/11 happened and I decided I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life. I moved to Kenya and started working for a school for children with special needs, doing found-raising events and teaching some classes as well with the help of another woman, Mary Wambui. She is a talented craftswoman in anything you could imagine, from weaving and beading, to knitting and crocheting. While working together I got to know her story: she had three boys from two different fathers, since many men in Kenya tend to take off and leave women with their children. Polygamy is one reason, alcohol another, but at times men who can't provide for the family feel so embarrassed that they just leave. I used to work with Mary one day a week, so the other days I tried to keep her busy giving her work, asking her to mend something or repair for example a broken bracelet. I gradually started giving her more things to do and other women in neighborhood and in her village heard that she was getting work and asked her to find them work as well. After I had my first child I wanted to start making some baby sweaters and she said that everyone was keen to help. That was how I knew there was a workforce sitting idle and I could build the company around it. This happened nine years ago, we now have 30 to 50 women who work pretty much full-time.
Do the craftswomen producing designs for Toto Knits work in shifts?
Erin Brennan Allan: We don't have a rigid 9 to 5 schedule and the knitters are paid by the piece which allows them to work as much or as little as they like. One of the things the women like is that it's very much a traditional environment, so they are sitting, chatting, drinking their tea and gossiping or singing. Mary said that when she was a child she would just knit whatever she could - even grass - to be able to join the other women sitting around making their kids' clothes. So they find such a working environment nice, happy and relaxed.
As customers, do we get to know who made the piece we are buying?
Erin Brennan Allan: All the designs are signed by the women who make them so that gives the pieces a kind of provenance, and consumers know that there was a special craftswoman in Africa who made what they ordered. The good quality of the knits we produce also ensures that they can be handed down and used again and again. It's great to have new stuff, but it's also nice to be able to use the same piece again or pass it to another child. So each piece has a story and develops its own story. The company logo - the yarn ball unravelling and forming silhouettes of African animals and trees - symbolises the story behind each piece.
We often hear about big companies and fashion houses launching projects in Africa, do you think they work?
Erin Brennan Allan: The concept and intentions are usually good, and consumers are always happy to support these projects as they feel they are helping, but, in the long term, these initiatives do not work. The problem is that companies employ local women for three months and they don't give them a good enough wage. So, quite often, these initiatives do not turn out as sustainable long-term projects that really help the local women and single mothers in particular, but as one time PR stunts. These companies could easily set up a factory and create something more sustainable, besides increasing the wages of one-two Euros a day can make a big difference as it can mean an extra meal for a family and make these women feel their work is more valued. Such an increase wouldn't have much impact on the final retail price, but it is a question of dignity for the women making all the work.
Was it difficult to find the yarn to make Toto Knits' childrenswear?
Erin Brennan Allan: Finding a cotton yarn in Kenya was very tricky. Kenya used to be one of the world's biggest cotton producers. But now they import these big containers filled with unwanted clothes from the charity shops and this has killed the local textile industry. While it's great to know that unused clothes are being recycled and this is done under the auspices of charity, the downside is that the textile industry in Kenya and the supply chain that goes from farmer growing cotton to fabric maker and clothes maker was really compromised; in Uganda they had the same problems. Since I couldn't find anybody producing what I wanted, I had to establish it. Initially, I was using candlewick, but it's really scratchy, hard and not organic, therefore not good enough for childrenswear; I also experimented with mop yarn, but it didn't work, so I got cotton thread from Uganda. They have one machine in Nairobi that takes 20 threads and twists them and I told them to make them not too tight and not too lose to come up with a nice yarn for baby clothes. We went from conventional to organic cotton and this whole process took 3-4 years.
How do the Toto Knits collections work?
Erin Brennan Allan: We have a collection dedicated to basic and classic pieces that also offers a dance line for girls and the possibility for our clients to customise their own design, plus two collections of knits inspired by safari and farm animals. I have worked with mummy bloggers on three capsule collections, in the past three year. Coos & Knits from Brooklyn designed a urban edgy line; Heart + Habit based her collection on Canada and its rugged outdoors and cosiness as well, while Flannery O'Kafka from Scotland came up with a collection that revealed as rather popular and was inspired by the sea and Scottish shipyards and also featured spooky yet fun tops like a Glasgow goblin jacket.
Does your team of craftswomen also work on other design projects?
Erin Brennan Allan: Sometimes we do carpets as my husband designs and produces tents for luxury lodgers, so we often do projects for interior design, such as blankets, carpets or cushion covers, but usually it's the Toto Knits designs that keep the team going.
Images 2 - 7 in this post Courtesy Toto Knits
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