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.

Key Issues

The rich culture, diverse traditions and skills of Africa have long been a source of inspiration for the international fashion industry. Equally, the industry has benefited from African raw materials such as cotton and leather. However, it is rare that the communities from which the inspirations and inputs are derived have benefited from the successes of international fashion.

In this event - jointly organized by Agoralumiere International and the African Federation of Fashion Designers in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC) - discussions will be centred on opportunities for change.

After an introduction to the facts and figures of the "fashion to raw materials" value chain in Africa, fashion designers and other stakeholders in the African fashion industry will present their concrete experiences on how the industry impacts on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The free dialogue will draw on participants' positive and negative experiences in linking up with the global fashion industry and on the obstacles they have encountered. ITC will share the lessons learnt from its Ethical Fashion programme.

Deliverables:

Pathway for linking designers and retailers/distributors in fashion markets with African designers, producers (especially community projects or informal manufacturers) and businesses, to develop win-win supply chain models.
Proposals and best-practice exchanges on how to remove obstacles encountered at the grass roots producer level and at the SME level.
Proposals on how to strengthen the production of socially and environmentally sustainable raw materials and ensure that value addition takes place in Africa.