Free dialogue: Ethical fashion - from fashion to African communities and the Millennium Development Goals

Open discussion on the opportunities for poor communities, African designers and SMEs in the global market of Ethical Fashion and on how to overcome prevailing obstacles to enter the value chains.

Summary

It was noted that the rich culture, diverse traditions and skills of Africa have long been sources of inputs for the international fashion industry. Equally, the industry had benefited from African materials such as cotton and leather. However, it was rare that the communities from where inspiration and inputs were derived had benefited from the successes of the world of fashion.

In the free dialogue - organized by the International Trade Centre, in partnership with the African Federation of Fashion Designers and Agoralumiere International - discussions centred on opportunities for change. The dialogue focused on participants' positive and negative experiences in the global fashion industry and on the obstacles they had encountered.

The International Trade Centre shared lessons learnt from its Ethical Fashion programme.

Deliverables

Proposals included:

A pathway for linking designers and retailers/ distributors in fashion markets with African designers, producers (especially community projects or informal manufactures) and business, to develop win-win supply chain models.
Ideas on how to remove obstacles encountered at the root producer level and at the small and medium-sized enterprise level.
Ideas on how to strengthen the production of socially and environmentally beneficial materials and ensure that value added took place in Africa.
Initiatives for building partnerships and sharing experiences among non-governmental organizations for South-South cooperation.