Fed up with Africa being a ‘waste disposal system’ for donated clothes, Bobby Kolade decided to refashion items into unique designs and return to sender
When Bobby Kolade moved back to Uganda in 2018 after 13 years in the European fashion world, he was intent on joining the movement to ban secondhand clothes. The designer remembered buying used clothing at Uganda’s biggest market, Owino in Kampala, as a child, but had since learned about the damage this trade is doing to the environment and to African textile industries.
“I see these clothes, and they offend me. I see white shirts with sweat stains and torn colours, and I feel oppressed,” says Kolade. “What does it say about whoever’s donating those clothes to us? And what does it say about our position in the world? It’s rude, you know? It’s really rude.”
