Meet the Irish-Kenyan clothing label competing with fast fashion

KENYA AND ME:
LINDI CAMPBELL CLAUSE

I was born in Kenya in 1987 and brought up on the shores of lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley. My father was an artist painting pictures of some of Kenya’s wildest and most beautiful places and animals.

As children my brother and I were lucky enough to spend most of our growing years on safari, living in tents, eating from campfires and building dens in the back of our ever moving toyota pick-up. My earliest memories are of having bucket baths on the shores of muddy rivers watching hippos and climbing trees above our camp to make way for herds of elephants to pass through.

I attended primary school in Gilgil until the age of 13 and then went to Ireland for secondary school and tertiary studies. Dublin and the Wicklow mountains took a bit of getting used to and wearing trousers and shoes was always slightly awkward but I was never lonely thanks to the open-heartedness and warmth of the people I met in Ireland.

When I graduated from NCAD in 2010 with a BA in fine print I spent almost two years cruising the high seas working on board super yachts hosting charters in the Med and Caribbean.

As much as I appreciated the views of Caribbean sunsets and endless oceans, I longed for African skies and warm sandy river beds under acacia trees. I couldn’t deny the grip Africa had on my free spirit, its wildness was truly rooted in my bones and I knew it was my home.

A lot had changed in Kenya since my childhood, or maybe it was just my peachy tinted kids glasses that had painted over the harsh realities of so many people struggling to put food on their plates every day while I had been running free with elephants. I think it’s safe to say it was a bit of both. Life was getting harder in rural Kenya with more pressure on the land and wildlife and thousands more people competing for water, fertile soil and an income. I wanted to try and increase some people’s chances for a decent living in these harsh areas, and as a designer I also liked the thought of having my own brand.

The idea for The African Shirt Company came about when I introduced Joan to Kenya. We felt that we could create a platform for fair trade clothing made in Kenya which could make an impact on the local community.

The African Shirt Company teaches local people how to pattern, cut and sew. This gives them new skills and provides them with an alternative way to create an income. First we partnered with a tailor named Clara, in Kiteghe village in the remote and dry area of Kasigau near Tsavo West national park. She started making tailored shirts out of traditional East African fabrics using a non-electric foot pedal sewing machine. Her work proved so successful that the project grew and now employs four women in the same village who have all learned how to use sewing machines. It provides an income for these women and their families. They share and improve their skills and it has brought meaningful employment to the area. As the project grows, we hope to employ more people and expand to surrounding villages, and make a greater positive impact in the region.

KENYA AND ME:
JOAN HUGHES

I was born and raised in the West of Ireland and in hindsight I think I had quite an easy childhood, always so sheltered from the harsh realities of the lives of many young women around the world.

Growing up I was immersed in the complexity of production and the clothing industry due to my family business - Portwest, a protective clothing company. The business has been in my family for over a hundred years, and yet, I never had the ambition to set up my own label until I visited Kenya for the first time in 2009. While on that unforgettable trip to Kenya I had a shirt made in the traditional African fabric. It was so vibrant I felt I wanted to have that energy in my life every day. After all, “life’s too short for boring clothes”.

As a designer I believe colour is one of the most important tools to make someone smile. When I returned from Kenya, I felt that with my design degree and experience in the rag trade I might be able to contribute to something more than the mass production and fast fashion that I knew, and so two years ago The African Shirt Company was born. It’s been flourishing ever since from the idea of producing simple but lovable product in a fair and sustainable way.

Through the African Shirt Company Lindi and I set about creating a sustainable production initiative based in Kenya called The Village Workshops. It creates alternative forms of income for people from a disadvantaged rural area of Kenya. The company's ethos is based on the motto "Trade not aid". So our goal is to promote sustainable business over aid dependency. The brand enables marginalised artisans to increase their skills and enter the international fashion chain in a fair way. The people working with us in our workshop used to depend on traditional farming methods but due to crops continuously failing over the past years due to severe drought (global warming) they now live each day as it comes.

The only way people in this area have been able to support themselves and survive is through cutting down trees, which has horrendous consequences, leaving the community and environment in a worse state in the long run. Local farmers continue to clear forested areas in order to produce charcoal to sell as firewood or to build their own homes. However, this practice leaves the soil unsuitable for farming, and when the rains do come, the topsoil gets washed away, leaving the earth barren with little chance of recovery. So in conjunction with job creation we also support a local tree nursery and conservation project. From every shirt sold we donate a percentage to reforestation in the local community.

Currently our shirts are made without electricity, without running water and we iron them with a charcoal iron (sustainable charcoal of course!). It is the beautiful, colourful designs which make our shirts one-of-a-kind. The kanga is a traditional East African fabric which dates back to the 19th century. The kangas used by The African Shirt Company are one of a kind, meaning there will be no more made from the same pattern. This means that each shirt is truly a unique work of art. Each shirt is sold with a price tag that ensures that the people who made it receive a fair wage for their work. This is the heart of what we believe in. Fairness.

For more see theafricanshirtcompany.com

[ Inside Out ]