Mind The Gap: Runway To Retail

Written By: Nani Hapa—Over the past five years we have experienced an explosion of African fashion on the global fashion scene. Where wearing an outfit inspired by Africa’s rich and diverse culture once meant sketching a clothing pattern, finding fabric, and working with a tailor to create the outfit, we now have a number of labels based everywhere from Lagos to Johannesburg who are playing couturier, as well as fashion shows such as the well-established Sanlam South Africa Fashion Week to the up-and-coming Mozambique Fashion Week who are providing much needed platforms to showcase African designers. But until two years ago, the bridge between runway and retail was non-existent for African fashion consumers without access to designers’ brick and mortar stores, leaving many would-be-consumers unable to support African designers ... Creative e-tailers are connecting African designers to the rest of the world by offering one-stop-online stores. In Bridging The African Retail Gap From Runway To Retail, find out which e-tailers are leading the trend and bringing African fashion to Afri-nistas worldwide.

(Photo Credits: © Image Source Photography / Veer)