3. Ethical Fashion
Threads Of Change
Like many women in their 30s, Jennifer Akoto is juggling. The operations manager for a Nairobi-based leather and beading business called Bidii, she has an international order to complete as well as a baby to feed. So, as the nanny hands her son Henry over to be nursed, Akoto taps at her calculator, then passes him back, readjusts her tailored jacket and pulls out her cell phone. Unlike most women working in the global fashion industry, though, Akoto is not concerned about the economic crisis or the credit crunch. The concept of credit barely exists in Korogocho, one of the world’s most crowded slums, on the edge of Nairobi, where she lives and works. Akoto’s story is a lesson about how fashion can be much more than just bling and status; it can be a vehicle for global improvement. It’s a story about how fashion can help others without losing its demand for rarefied craftsmanship and speciality.
Heart & Sole
The classic hermès jumping boot looks as good in the office as it does in the saddle, and is made the same way now as it was a century ago. Marion Hume sees the attention to detail that goes into producing an investment piece.
Purse Strings
There’s an old ethiopian saying that spiderwebs joined together can catch a lion. Taytu — the name comes from a legendarily strong-willed Ethiopian empress — is a company composed of small leather and handwoven-textile producers in and around Addis Ababa. Collectively, these craftsmen are achieving what they could never have accomplished on their own: they’ve established the first luxury label in one of the poorest countries on earth. Barneys New York and Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif., are among Taytu’s growing and loyal customer base. Those are some high-profile lions.