Lagos Fashion Week returns with focus on sustainability

Designers including Lisa Folawiyo, Nkwo, Orange Culture, and Emmy Kasbit all appeared at the star-studded event. Lagos Fashion Week returned for its 15th edition this week, bringing together some of the continent’s best-known designers, including Lisa Folawiyo, Nkwo, Orange Culture, and Emmy Kasbit. But the event is increasingly about more than runway recognition: This year’s theme, “Crafted,” puts heritage, craftsmanship, and circular fashion at the center, say the organizers, and reflects Lagos Fashion Week’s growing emphasis on building a commercially viable and sustainable African fashion industry. The ambition is to turn global interest in African design into lasting economic opportunities for local manufacturers, artisans, and creative businesses. “African fashion doesn’t have a creativity problem, it has an infrastructure problem,” Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion Week, told Semafor. “Access to finance, manufacturing capacity, and distribution remain significant barriers.”