Innovation

For over a decade the brand has gained a reputation for creativity and innovation while building a business around waste reduction and traditional craft skills preservation. Through innovative cutting techniques, upcycling and fabric manipulation, a new way of working and thinking has been established where waste is seen as a valuable commodity that can support communities, preserve traditions and break the repetitive cycle of waste and environmental damage.

Dakala Cloth

During an experimental session in our studios an innovative technique using non-woven technology was developed with textile waste. This resulted in the invention of a new fabric that looked like handloom woven cloth with a distinctively African feel to it. It was named Dakala™ Cloth as it had begun with left over pieces of denim and as a nod to the sound of Africa’s long tradition of cloth weaving: Sakala-si sakala-sa Sakala-si sakala-sa…In the bid to achieve 100% zero waste garment production, new dimensions to the cloth have been added. Dakala™ Strings – where textile waste is braided into strings, forming the panels used to construct garments and Dakala™ Web where textile waste is stripped into yarn then woven on traditional handlooms. We took this process one step further to invent a technique of weaving to shape that we call WEB WEAVING, inspired by the way a spider weaves its web, using only what it needs.