The inventor of Roundabout, Zara Odu, recognized the need for new tools to support sustainable growth among African designers.
What does it mean to develop a trustworthy product and to conduct responsible design work from beginning to end? In regards to the future of the fashion business as a sustainable and circular one, Zara Odu has been looking for an answer to this query for more than 15 years. She used this as motivation to start the Designers Consociate, a consulting firm that encourages ethical manufacturing practices among African fashion firms.
Odu came to the realization that what was actually needed was a means to get resources into the hands of more people in the field after working for the company for more than six years and speaking with experts and influential voices in the industry.
Odu created Roundabout, a virtual gathering place and toolkit for designers and entrepreneurs to learn and share information on how to apply circular design principles to their work, from the point of sourcing materials to the finished product, with a greater awareness that finding long-lasting solutions is frequently a collaborative effort.
Her objective is to build sustainable solutions for the entire supply chain of the fashion industry, focusing on African fashion designers.
African companies frequently employ small-scale production and other time-honored design techniques, maintaining the aspect of sustainability embedded in them.
Odu, however, contends that there is still potential for creativity and a need to emphasize the intrinsic worth of traditional methods, despite the notion that fashion on the continent is inherently ethical.
“Many brands are now designing for a global audience, which means that they may be adopting a lot of practices that are not necessarily sustainable,” she says, citing examples such as brands choosing polyester as a more affordable alternative to cotton threads or using synthetic dyes in place of natural ones.
We want to assist brands in planning ahead and developing better designs using materials of the highest caliber that customers can rely on.
A cultural focus is emphasized while promoting innovative initiatives, from brand collaborations to commercial innovations that support advocacy.
Since its founding, the company has expanded beyond providing educational opportunities to produce textiles and giving partner firms the ability to reintroduce antiquated materials into their manufacturing processes.
“I’ve always been considering very carefully how brands might expand locally and do this sustainably,” she says. “Although I wasn’t articulating it in today’s terms.
“I felt that there was a disconnect between what most of the brands I was working with already understood about sustainable fashion and how to put it into practice,” she said. Putting circular ideals into effect is difficult in situations like these, where there is little availability of long-lasting materials and a heavy reliance on imported resources, forcing firms to settle for inferior alternatives.
While Designers Consociate focuses on one-on-one collaboration with designers, Roundabout establishes a setting where designers and industry professionals can meet, engage in deeper discussions about sustainability, and look at innovative methods to put it into practice.
The founder of Iamisigo, Bubu Ogisi, goes in-depth on responsible material sourcing in his dissertation. Designers Frances van Hasselt and Leandi Mulder’s dissertation explores innovative circular design with African mohair, and the Bukomansimbi Organic Tree Farmers Association examines a 700-year-old regenerative textile production process.
In order to improve access to pertinent information and tools that businesses can employ in their creative process, we are developing an ecosystem, according to Odu. The goal is to offer brands the vision they need to create sustainably while also creating possibilities for cooperation and partnership focused on finding solutions.
While practitioners and academics have access to publications and resources, Yegwa Ukpo, the director of the sustainable design firm Newtype, claims that there are still only a limited amount of sources available to designers, enthusiasts, and the general public.
People will find it simpler to relate to these abstract ideas, like circular fashion and sustainability, the more tales we give in our content, the author claims.
To present the broadest perspective possible, it is necessary to consider multiple viewpoints, not simply those within the fashion industry.
Odu’s concentration is mostly on working with African firms, but she is also collaborating with foreign brands, like Studio Hilo in Berlin, to develop forward-thinking concepts for yarn development and textile innovation.
The portal also houses The Zero Waste Online Collective, which unites teams from Scotland and the Netherlands to make zero-waste education, information, and tools accessible to everyone.
According to Odu, “the majority of the African brands we work with are either producing or designing internationally.” “The international partners we’re working with also understand how much their work can influence what we’re doing, and how they can get more brands to adopt circular practices by pulling resources together and learning from one another.”
Currently, there are strong expectations for the fashion sector to implement ecologically responsible methods. The significance of platforms like Roundabout becomes increasingly clear as there is room for African fashion to be better prepared for sustainable production when it comes time to scale.
According to Newtype’s Ukpo, “the average fashion consumer is getting more knowledgeable and aware of the issues around sustainability that fashion is directly related to.” The need for resources is greater than ever as a result, and designers are increasingly motivated to create more sustainable clothing.
The definition of sustainable fashion in the context of fashion in the Global South differs significantly from that in the Global North, making it a complex topic.
The fusion of these various frames of view is Odu’s goal for the foreseeable future as Roundabout was made public in June.
Currently, the project is being implemented in stages, with the first stage being an educational one featuring the opinions of over 60 designers and sustainability specialists.
To close the knowledge gap in the industry, these tools are available for the first year entirely free of charge.
The site will eventually provide premium memberships and expert-led classes to gain access to specified areas.
In December, a retail component will be unveiled in which a number of firms featured on the website produce a line of goods that personify the ideals of the Roundabout community.
We’ll keep looking at both established and up-and-coming individuals who are making a difference in the world and figuring out how to tell their story, she says. “New brands, products, and innovators are also a focus of ours.”
Content courtesy of Vouge Business & NFH
