How It's Made

Our partnership with an ethical manufacturer in Kenya enables us to employ 93 people full-time in a formal labor market with a transferable skill, ensuring a future in Kenyan manufacturing and a competitive playing field worldwide. Everyone who stitches our dresses is paid fair and salaried wages, ensuring job security, social security, benefits, and guaranteed pay. 

We require our production partners to ensure fair labor conditions and rights, protecting the health and safety of everyone who works on our clothing. They are assessed through an independent, internationally recognized, third-party social audit to ensure safe, healthy and fair practices.

> Meet our production team

 

In Kiswahili, tushone means "let's stitch." We work with a workshop in Nairobi called Tushone where we do product development and special orders, including our masks.

>Learn more about our masks

  

We have always dreamed of producing our own textiles in Kenya, and in the summer of 2020, we finally reached the scale and volume where we could make it happen. Moving forwards, we will be producing our own prints in Kenya, with Kenyan grown, ginned and milled cotton. We're super proud to be creating clothing from seed to store.

>See how our prints are made

 

We are deeply committed to preserving and supporting textile traditions across the African continent and around the world, and are proud to be able to work with talented artisans creating beautiful, sustainable pieces by hand.

We work directly with both dye and craft artisan collectives in Kenya, Ghana and Senegal to produce our hand-dyed batik and stitch-resist fabrics. We pay above-market rates for their work, and paying them directly means that we know with certainty that they are fully compensated for their art. 

>Meet Edwina and Cheikhouna

 

In addition to hand-dyed textiles, we develop handwoven textiles produced with a fair-trade cooperative in Kolkata, India. Using locally sourced cotton and linen, sustainable and when possible, natural dyes, and traditional handloom techniques these artisans are bringing traditional technique to a global audience. 

>Meet the weavers

  

Since we started, we have sourced the majority of our fabrics directly from markets across the continent, though primarily in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We visit the market ourselves monthly and buy directly from a network of vendors that we've developed over the years.

>Meet some of our vendors

 
model wearing a rainbow striped dress
 
Model wearing black dress with brown, white and red leaves.
 
model wearing a floral multicolored dress
 
Model wearing blue dress.
 
Model wearing caramel dress with blue and black small floral print.
 
Blue, white and gold swirl dress
 
model wearing a floral blue and red dress
 
model wearing a black and white pinball design dress
 
model wearing a teal, black and purple shirt dress
 
model wearing a multicolored and black striped dress
 
model wearing a blue lily design dress
 
model wearing a green, white and navy polka dot design dress
 
Black and white brushstrokes batik
 
model wearing a green and white swoosh design dress
 
model wearing a rainbow swirl design dress
 
model wearing a pink and purple line design dress
 
model wearing a rooster and chick design dress in blue, red and orange
 
 
Model wearing rainbow dress with black boots.
 
model wearing a brown, black and white seed design dress
 
Model wearing a red, grey and maroon geometric shirt dress
 
model wearing a black and white palm tree design dress
 
Turquoise dress with black, white and yellow flowers
 
model wearing a grey ikat dress
 
Model wearing black dress with teal and orange leaves with white dots, over jeans.
 
model wearing a blue, red and white flower pod design shirt dress
 
Black dress with red flowers
 
model wearing a brown, red and beige floral design dress
 
model wearing an orange, white and green plant design dress
 
Purple diagonal stripe batik dress
 
Model wearing pink dress with yellow seed design.
 
model wearing a pink and blue pineapple dress
 
Large brushstroke blue and white batik dress
 
model wearing a blue, red, black and beige pinwheel design dress
 
model wearing a blue and green cactus design dress
 
model wearing a green, red and yellow vegetable design dress
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