SuperTed

Do you rememeber the cartoon...I am such an 80s kid!

Well after getting stuck in customs my little teddy friends have arrived safe and sound

Deciding on which maker to use as I really don't want to go down the China route though it is cheaper .... i will stick to my ladies homemade method. The final product is very good and it has the edge i need and room for development of design too.

Watch this space with info of where to buy!

patterns done

praise the Lord, Hallelujah!
Emily you are a superstar.

I have the patterns all completed and will be ready by Tuesday to post out to Kenya. I have decided to definitely go with them but one of the styles I will make up in Ghana as I want it to be done by batik as an allover print as i feel my collection lacks prints.

But i did a proper colour overview and i was so pleased with how the sketches look and i am really excited with a leotard piece i have...kinda funky and probably will be the most expensive piece to buy - very fashion very edgy but very britsh urban. The colours I am now using give it more life as i originally was going to do them muted but i want to add fun to my range and that is important.

Ok so will post to kenya through dhl and should God willing get them back before I go to Ghana for christmas where i will do a photoshoot.

I have a model in Togo where i will be visiting and am preparing an african effect shoot.

I saw a great shoot done in this months Arise magazine this month (doesnt alicia look beautiful as always...aaahh) and the shoot had a very raw feel though i am not sure where they did it. They used a very edgy Kenyan model called Ajuma i believe and the shoot was fantastic. The composition, the background etc etc It inspires me. But I am still thinking youthful edgy or raw edgy....once the samples come i will know for sure but im thinking to def do it in Ghana/Togo and probably do a version here in the Uk too. but samples ... i cant wait til they are completed!

representing Africa

I have been watching www.www.myasho.com for a while now and I am loving their representatiion of African made designs and african designers. I want to see this website grow to be the asos for africa and hope soon to give them a new angle of african made product with Akabi clothing designs.

nigerian made bags - what a beauty

Another design Abiola who has a desire to work with her homeland Nigeria and help to represent african made product in the fashion industry

She has been working hard on establishing her label Jezreel - the hebrew word meaning 'God plants'. I gotta plug this brand for the innovative designs in accessories. She fuses leather and ankara and creates beautiful accessory pieces you will love for your wardrobe

Her tenacity to get her business up and running is an encouragement to new designers

Go Abi!

check out designs at http://www.jezreeldesigns.com/ they can be bought through my asho website store
(see following post!)

afri-style

I came across this new label - Gadofka a young german stroke ethiopian girl who amalgamates african print fashion into her design

the designs are crazy-beautiful. I see alot of designers who mix the african fabrics with street styling and some times it often just looks wrong but i feel this designer has brought in her own heritage and personal style into the pattern cutting and design vision.

The label GADOFKA is Achamyelsh Biftu Bojia a womangirl whose imagination is filled with curiosity,innocence,fantasy,theatre, experimental films, modern dance , no boundaries, tradition and music. Achamyelesh Biftu Bojia was born in Germany and is originally from Ethiopia but she believes in another life she was married to Jean Michel Basquiat and the daughter of Miles Davies.However Gadofka was born in 2008 after Achamyelesh Biftu Bojia created the collection AFRICANICALPROGRESSIVEMADNESS for A/W 09, which is expressing all her experience in life and everything she has observed trough her journey so far. That includes the African heritage materials from Ethiopia and Nigeria. The collection itself is an echo for her life. Gadofka is a storyteller, it is the messenger of the african culture . Every print is telling a vibrant colourful story. Achamyelesh Biftu Bojia is a messenger of her own and culture, a true storyteller. She celebrates life and she believes in no boundaries and with a little bit of fantasy, braveness ,patience and optimism we can break limitations!
http://www.notjustalabel.com/gadofka

Achamyelsh Biftu Boija, we gotta talk girl

Loving it!

Logistics.....mmmh

Emily is back on completing my patterns and I have managed to get a morning to go down to Heba - a womens project in brick lane in london...well recommended

"Our enterprise programme offers production work through links with new designers, the opportunity to become involved in product design at Heba and a small number of subsidised workspaces for women who want to start a new business." http://www.ssba.info/heba.html

I am making my woven styles with them as i have heard alot about them and love the work they are doing with women. Initiatives like them make me desire more and more to set something up like this in Africa.

So im testing them out now on my woven styles and still planning to work with Kenya on my jersey styles as they have the bio(organic)cotton available in many colours.   The main thing is logistics now....order my bamboo., soy and hemp cottons from the USA and make them up in Ghana as i can get my printing batik etc all done there and madeup and i have a good courier service in place; OR make them in Kenya using their available organic cotton but logistically it can be issues.

Have a limited amount of fabrics in my first range OR have a variety but better logistics...tough decision. SO now i will test both methods as its mostly down to quality and i still have to test Ghana out for sewing and production

(you are probably shocked by the picture....i need to start adding pictures again-make the blog more fun! more will follow...)

STILL PROCESSING

Feeling a little bit out of it last few weeks as everything is piling on more and more. My planning is proving okay but it is difficult to have a personal life whilst setting up business. One of the tough sides of business. I look back to my days of interning with a small designer after i left university and i remember how she worked day and night night and day, i saw her marriage falling apart and her new baby suffering from lack of nurturing from his mother. With that in mind I tell myself to get things in check.

I do believe that season two will be easier than one as at present pricing and timings are all over the place as I am in a learning position but by next season I will have something to base my pricings and timings on. So what is happening now? Emily has started to edit my patterns and I will be taking them to Heba this week (a womens cooperative workshop in Brick lane - lots of small design companies use them and their reputation is good and the finished product also is good). They will make up product for both companies. I also have to send patterns to kenya to be made up too. (via germany) I am deciding to make all my jersey styles organic cotton now. Though i have already spent a chunk of my budget on fabrics that finally came through customs (it wasn't that expensive a fee really - just annoying like i said) but i am thinking the bio/organic cotton that the Kenyan factory used is farmed in East Africa locally and i want to support that business. It would also be cheaper and better for my carbon footprint to not source cotton from the usa which originally came from china or somewhere and i want to be transparent in my whole supply chain.

Its my aim to support Africa through my business as much as possible so am building contacts as I go along.