CNN Inside Africa focused on the fast growing Ethiopian fashion industry and it’s global market. Inside Africa reporter Soni Methu talks Ethiopian fashion designers, Photographer and Fashion critic on the current trend and the future of this industry in international spot light.
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (CNN)The country has an international supermodel. It has a world-renown designer, a centuries-old textile industry, and its very own fashion school. It’s Ethiopia, and it’s perched to hit the global fashion industry by storm.
Global interest in Ethiopian fashion is growing. See how the intricate calculations of traditional hand-weaving become elegant designs that grace the runway, as Soni Methu gets to know the designers, models, journalists and artisans driving the Ethiopian fashion scene. Hear what they think it will take to turn Ethiopia into an international player in apparel.
Posted by Inside Africa on Friday, March 27, 2015
“I do see a trend of Ethiopian fashion going abroad,” admits Mahlet Teklemariam, the organizer of Addis Ababa Fashion Week.
“(Fashion in) Ethiopia in the past was mostly local. It wasn’t known on the international market,” she notes. That, she says, is starting to change.
“A lot of international companies are investing in Ethiopia. The Turkish have a lot of big companies producing here and H&M are producing here.”
Telling a storyMany companies are drawn by Ethiopia’s textiles — stunning woven cotton with a range of rich designs. However, there is also an increasing number of homegrown designers hitting the scene.
Fikirte Addis studied child psychology, but ultimately the pull of her mother’s sewing machine proved too powerful for her.
“I loved cutting (fabric),” she recalls. “I had a box full of dresses that I would reuse.” The self-taught seamstress ultimately changed career, and she hasn’t looked back. For her, Ethiopian fabrics give new meaning to the concept of weaving a story. .. Watch the Video and Read More on CNN