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What does it mean to create a credible product, to design responsibly from start to finish? For more than 15 years, Zara Odu has been in search of an answer to this question as it relates to fashion’s future as both a sustainable and circular industry. This led her to create the Designers Consociate, a consultancy service that promotes responsible production among fashion brands in Africa.
After more than six years at the firm and discussions with experts and leading voices in the sector, Odu realised what was really needed was a way to get resources into the hands of more people in the industry. With a greater awareness that finding lasting solutions is often a communal effort, Odu launched Roundabout, a virtual meeting point and resource kit for designers and entrepreneurs to gain and share knowledge on how to incorporate circular design principles into their work, from the point of sourcing materials to the final product.
Her goal is to engineer sustainable solutions across the fashion industry’s supply chain, targeting designers in Africa. Small-scale production and other time-honoured design practices are commonplace among African brands, retaining the element of sustainability ingrained in them. But Odu argues that despite the belief that fashion on the continent is inherently responsible, there remains room for innovation and a need to reinforce the inherent value of traditional practices.
“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, considering how brands may opt for polyester as a cost-friendly substitute to cotton threads, or use synthetic dyes in favour of natural ones. “We’re looking to help brands think long-term and create better designs with high-quality materials that consumers can bank on.”
Innovative strategies are promoted with a cultural focus, from creative partnerships with brands to business developments fostering advocacy. Since its launch, the firm has gone beyond creating educational opportunities to producing textiles and enabling partner brands to bring age-old materials back into their production process.
“Although I wasn’t describing it in today’s terms, I’ve always been considering very specifically how brands can build locally and do this sustainably,” she says. “I felt that with most of the brands I was working with, there was a gap between what they already understood about sustainable fashion, and how to put it in action.” Translating circular concepts to practice is no easy feat where, for instance, there is limited access to durable materials and a high reliance on imported resources, leaving brands to choose alternatives unfit for long-term use.
While Designers Consociate involves one-on-one partnership with designers, Roundabout creates a space where designers and market experts connect and have deeper conversations around sustainability, exploring forward-looking ways to implement it. A search through the digital space reveals visual stories, conversations and reflections around sustainable production, from a deep dive on sourcing materials responsibly by Iamisigo founder, Bubu Ogisi, and a dissertation by designers Frances van Hasselt and Leandi Mulder about innovative circular design with African mohair, to a look at a 700 year-old regenerative textile production process by the Bukomansimbi Organic Tree Farmers Association.
“We are creating an ecosystem that will inspire new solutions and facilitate access to relevant information and tools that brands can use in their design process,” Odu says. “The aim is to provide opportunities for solutions-based collaboration and partnership, as well as offering brands the vision they need as they build sustainably.”
According to Yegwa Ukpo, head of sustainable design studio Newtype, while there are publications and resources available to practitioners and academics, the number of resources that offer content on sustainability to creators, enthusiasts and the general public is still relatively low. “The more we make content presented as stories, the easier it will be for people to connect with these abstract concepts like circular fashion and sustainability,” he says. “Multiple perspectives, and not just from the world of fashion, are required to provide as broad a perspective as possible.”
Collaborations with African brands are a key focus for Odu, but she’s also partnering with international brands such as Berlin-based Studio Hilo, to form progressive ideas around textile innovation and yarn-creation. The platform also hosts The Zero Waste Online Collective, with teams from Scotland and the Netherlands working to make zero-waste education, knowledge and resources available to all. “Most of the African brands we work with are either producing or designing internationally,” Odu says. “The global partners we’re working with also understand how much their work can impact what we’re doing, and how they can get more brands to adopt circular practices by pulling resources and learning from each other.”
The fashion industry is currently met with high expectations for the adoption of environmentally-friendly practices. As there is room for African fashion to be better equipped for sustainable production when it comes time to scale, the necessity of platforms like Roundabout become more apparent.
“The average fashion consumer is getting more informed and aware of the issues around sustainability that fashion is directly related to,” says Newtype’s Ukpo. As a result, the desire by designers to produce more sustainable fashion is growing and the need for resources is greater than ever. “It is a complex topic, and what sustainable fashion means in the context of fashion in the Global South is different in various ways from what it means in the Global North.”
As Roundabout opened to the public in June, merging these varying viewpoints is Odu’s target for the near future. The project is currently rolling out in phases — the first being an educative stage with insight from over 60 designers and sustainability experts. These resources are completely free to access for the first year, a move which is aimed at bridging the knowledge gap in the sector.
In the future, specific spaces on the site will be accessible through paid memberships and workshops by experts. A retail element will be introduced in December, where a number of brands featured on the site create a line of products that embody the values that the Roundabout community represents. “We’ll continue to research existing and emerging figures around the world who are doing exciting things, and how we can share their stories,” she says. “Our focus is also on new products, brands and innovators.”
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