The African fashion industry is definitely starting off 2020 with a bang! In great news, six African brands have been admitted into the newly formed Ethical Fashion Initiative Accelerator programme, created by the Simone Cipriani helmed ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative in collaboration with Europe Aid. Our very own Dakore Egbuson Akande, one of the judges of the accelerator panels announced the good news on her Instagram this morning.
On her Instagram she said:
I’m very proud to announce my collaboration with the Ethical Fashion Institute @ethicalfashion and Europe Aid @europeaid as one of the judges of the Accelerator program #EFIAccelerator to support the next generation of African Fashion by preparing them for the Global fashion industry. On the panel alongside Hirofumi Kurino (Global Fashion Ambassador from Japan ?? and Susi Billingsley (Vogue Magazine) Italy ?? We are proud to announce after extensive deliberations that the winners are Reign ?? SA , Margaux Wong ?? Wuman Nigeria ?? Mdingi(SA), De la Subere (Burkina Faso), Jiamini (Kenya)!!
Special thanks to my co-judges, Chloe Mukai (Senior programme manager EFI) and Simone Cipriani ( Head & Founder EFI) for the opportunity and your support on this project.
Congratulations to all our winners especially our ?? designer @thewumanbrand
Find out more about this project at www.ethicalfashioninitiative.org
The program also has storied collaborators on its management team like Roberta Annan and Jennifer Faust.
The ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative is a programme of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation.
The programme is designed to help African designers in growing their businesses specifically with production support, acceleration of the business processes and building brand value.
Check out the announcement from the Ethical Fashion Initiative:
View this post on Instagram
Major congratulations to The Wuman Brand and all the brands who got in!