In Uganda, Bobby Kolade returns second-hand clothes to their country of origin
Designer Bobby Kolade, wears one of his creations.
© Ian Nnyanzi
Text by: Lucie Mouillaud Follow
4 mins
In his new collection, released on April 27, designer Bobby Kolade transforms second-hand clothes exported from Western countries into Uganda.
A reflection on the importance of the second-hand clothing trade which weighs on local manufacturers.
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From our correspondent in Kampala,
In the large arcades of Nabugabo, in the heart of Kampala, bundles of clothes pile up in the shops.
"
All these clothes are second-hand
," says Bobby Kolade, in the middle of one of the warehouses in this district, a supply center for a large part of the capital's shops.
Returning to Uganda in 2018, after more than ten years spent between Paris and Berlin in the fashion sector, the young 35-year-old designer never imagined that he would end up working with second-hand products.
"
When I think about it today, it was obvious
," he smiles.
With Buzigahill, his new collection, the designer rethinks these clothes imported from Canada, the United Kingdom or Germany, in non-gendered pieces intended to be resold in their countries of origin.
“
Before, I was angry when I found here all these old clothes donated to collection points in Europe, sometimes unusable and covered with paint stains.
Now I try to see them as a resource, and to get something positive out of them
,” he explains.
In his studio, Bobby Kolade, accompanied by a team of six people, gives new life to these clothes, cuts them out and sews them together by mixing the different pieces.
“
It's a joyful, colorful collection to celebrate Ugandan creativity which is often not appreciated at its fair value,
” he says.
But I think it's also a reflection of this second-hand industry that weighs on local manufacturers.
»
Checked patchwork shirt made using panels from six different shirts.
Shop now at https://t.co/DLv82QLf9i#buzigahill #returntosender pic.twitter.com/h8AfsPkHZK
— BUZIGAHILL (@buzigahill) May 5, 2022
Because in Uganda, the second-hand clothing trade is omnipresent: it constitutes 80% of textile purchases at the national level.
“
Northern countries still think that clothing donations are a charity,” he regrets.
It's not, it's a huge market.
Companies buy their stocks from associations or directly own collection centers, then export to us.
According to the organization Oxfam, in 2015, almost 70% of second-hand clothing donations in Europe were sent to the African continent.
For Ugandan creators, it is difficult to develop and compete in such an environment, faced with the proliferation of this second-hand merchandise, available everywhere and very inexpensively.
“
In Kampala, a second-hand T-shirt can cost 1,000 or 2,000 shillings (between 25 and 50 euro cents).
It's been like that for decades, it's become normal to pay so little, and it's unfortunate, because we don't just import clothes, but also the fast fashion culture of Western countries
. denounces Bobby Kolade.
Bobby Kolade buys bales of second-hand clothes from warehouses in Nabugabo, central Kampala.
© Lucie Mouillaud/RFI
The designer returned four years earlier to Uganda, the country in which he grew up, with the initial goal of creating a brand made entirely from locally grown cotton.
But the project was quickly shelved: the level of development of the country's textile industry did not allow it to mount a diversified and competitive collection on the world market.
However, after gaining independence in 1962, Uganda was one of the most important cotton exporters in sub-Saharan Africa.
"
But the textile sector never recovered from the instability of the 1970s, and President Idi Amin Dada's decision to evict the Indo-Pakistani communities who ran these companies
.
In 2021, a report presented to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicates that only 5-10% of the cotton grown in Uganda is used and processed locally.
Faced with this reality, creating from second-hand clothes was Bobby Kolade's only option.
"
But when you come from a country like mine, selling on the internet, abroad, remains a challenge
," he sighs.
It took me a lot of research just to find an online payment system available in Uganda.
With his non-profit organisation, Aiduke Clothing Research, he now wants to launch an online business to help other Ugandan designers reach an international audience.
Bobby Kolade's creations are made from second-hand clothes.
© Ian Nnyanzi
For the couturier, there's no question of abandoning the idea of working with Ugandan raw materials either.
The project is the subject of a ten-year plan.
“
I hope to be able to set up small structures all over the country, with different specialties: second-hand products, always, but also the manufacture of collections based on cotton, silk, even locally produced bamboo.
»
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