How Asantii, A Rwandan Contemporary Fashion label Aims to Become the World’s First African Global Fashion Brand

Asantii is a contemporary fashion label ran by Rwandan-born entrepreneur Maryse Mbonyumutwa. The brand specializes in womenswear that celebrates African heritage and craftsmanship. Maryse  believes the world is ready for what she bills as the first African global brand, as she prepares to launch the contemporary label, designed and produced in Africa, which she hopes will serve as an incubator for the local fashion industry.

Maryse who is a chief executive officer of Pink Mango, a multinational group with 23 years of experience in garment manufacturing and the production of promotional items, has worked extensively with factories in Asia, but was frustrated that the apparel industry wasn’t creating more jobs on the African continent.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ASANTII (@asantii_official)

Likewise, she was puzzled that such a huge territory had yet to produce a brand for a worldwide audience. “I’ve worked for so many brands from so many different countries — France, U.K., Germany, Americans, even the Japanese have Uniqlo — but I’ve never had in hand a technical pack for an African global brand,” she told WWD in an interview about the label

It’s a continent of 1.2 billion people who don’t run around naked in Africa, so who dresses them? I thought there was a little bit of imbalance,” she said.

The executive, who fled the Rwandan genocide at 20 and now holds dual Belgian citizenship, is bringing her international expertise to the venture, and in 2019 teamed up with her historic Chinese partner to set up a factory in Rwanda that has created 4,300 jobs so far.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ASANTII (@asantii_official)

The facility produces outerwear for firms including G-III Apparel Group; Spanish retailer Tendam; France’s Damartex Group; and supermarket chains such as Tesco, Lidl and Aldi. It will serve as the springboard for the launch of Asantii “We definitely are not a fast-fashion brand,” Mbonyumutwa said. “We are a sustainable and ethical brand, and our positioning is more in what they call affordable luxury. But in terms of pricing, we are cheaper because we want the brand also to be affordable on the continent.”

“Originally, what I was thinking of is to invest in one African brand, and then see how we can produce for it and see if we can scale and globalize it. But I’ve been in contact with quite a lot of brands in Africa, and I would say the majority have a problem: they all have amazing creativity, but then the problem really comes in terms of execution,” Mbonyumutwa said.

“So the dilemma was, what do I do? I really want to support African fashion, but I do not want to support mediocrity, because when you buy something, you’re going to wear it once, but you’re not going to become a returning customer,” she continued. “It was like, let’s set up our own brand, and go through what they go through, and then we’ll be able to actually identify what we are missing on the continent to have a few brands emerging

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ASANTII (@asantii_official)

To begin with, Pink Mango did an assessment for each of the 14 labels on its roster. Many of them have won awards and have strong local followings, but tend to produce their clothing artisanally in traditional workshops, lacking the know-how to deal with garment factories, Mbonyumutwa said.

Many of them have won awards and have strong local followings, but tend to produce their clothing artisanally in traditional workshops, lacking the know-how to deal with garment factories, Mbonyumutwa said.

Asantii is helping the designers with a production infrastructure and the support of a team in London drawn from the luxury industry. “While they co-create for Asantii, they are learning the skills, and we will be opening the whole Asantii infrastructure to the brands when they’re ready,” said Mbonyumutwa.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ASANTII (@asantii_official)

“My dream is to develop the 14 brands to the level they want, because not everybody wants to scale. Some of them want to remain smaller brands, but they still do need the support for execution and product quality,” she added

Asantii plans to develop two seasonless collections per year. By the end of next year, the company plans to introduce the work of four designers under their own label to be sold alongside its brand online. As of next year, the headquarters of the label will officially move to Kigali.

“Once we have mastered the project in Rwanda, the goal is to replicate the Asantii infrastructure — product development and production — in other countries,” added the executive, who hopes to open units in West Africa, East Africa and southern Africa.

“Our ambition is to see Asantii opening in the cities where the designers come from in Africa, and hopefully the West as well. After London, we are hoping to be in Paris as well, and why not the U.S.?” Mbonyumutwa said.

“Our ambition is to be global, not necessarily to scale massively in terms of volume, but in terms of visibility. We want to share all this wealth of creativity that we have in Africa,” she said.

Source: WWD & Asantii.com

Satisfahionug@gmail.com