Kwamena Boison

“As a social entrepreneur and designer, born and raised in Ghana, West Afrika, centuries old fashion and textile practices such as indigo dying and hand weaving in Ghana and across the Afrikan continent has shaped my perspective, largely because it has been sustainable at every level of production. The resilient women traders in Kantamanto; the largest second-hand market in Afrika who have for several decades engaged their tailoring and design skills in giving new life to damaged second-hand clothes and transforming clothes which are not appropriate for the Ghanaian climate into more practical, has also been a huge aspect of our trajectory. Amidst all these inspiring pockets of skill and resilience in Kantamanto it was/is daunting to see that colonialism and capitalism fuel the entire fashion industry and for several decades, Ghana and other Afrikan countries have had to be dealing, managing and living with the waste that gets created in the global North.

In response to action, THE REVIVAL; a community-led organisation, creating awareness, art and jobs with up-cycled global textile waste coming to Ghana was founded in 2018. I believe that as every individual walking the surface of this planet called earth wears clothes, we are all part of the fashion industry, hence very critical that, we all come together in this moment of existence with our individual capacities, to make a generational change and impact.

There is a global growing movement towards sustainable and ethical fashion practices, including calls for greater transparency, responsible production methods, and a shift towards a circular economy model. However, systemic changes in the fashion industry’s business models and consumer behaviour are necessary to truly mitigate the impacts of waste colonialism and capitalism’s emphasis on profit over environmental and social responsibility.”

To contact Kwamena, you can email him at [email protected]