AFRIEK

The AFRIEK clot­hing is made in their own work­shop in Kiga­li. A team of tail­ors and seam­stres­ses are employ­ed fair­ly and ethi­cal­ly in this way. Becau­se pro­duc­tion takes place in their own ate­lier, AFRIEK also has full con­trol over working con­di­ti­ons and fair wages.

AFRIEK also col­la­bo­ra­tes with various pro­duc­tion part­ners. The brand forms solid rela­ti­onships with their sup­pli­ers and strict­ly moni­tors that the­se pro­du­cers work fair­ly and ethi­cal­ly, even visi­ting the pro­du­cers them­sel­ves. In this way, the brand aims to pro­vi­de a safe and healt­hy working envi­ron­ment throug­hout their who­le sup­p­ly chain.

One of the­se part­ners is Man­tis World. AFRIEK works with them to pro­du­ce the T‑shirts. The T‑shirts are made in Tan­z­a­nia and prin­ted by Loe­na­tix, a social work­shop in the Net­her­lands. Part of the pro­ceeds go to orga­ni­sa­ti­ons fight­ing racism in the Netherlands.

AFRIEK also works with pro­duc­tion part­ners in Tan­z­a­nia and Rwan­da for the mate­ri­als of the dres­ses. The cot­ton is grown by social orga­ni­sa­ti­ons in Tan­z­a­nia and pro­ces­sed by a local pro­du­cer in Kigali.

AFRIEK works not only ethi­cal­ly but also eco­lo­gi­cal­ly! The clo­thes are made enti­re­ly of orga­nic cot­ton. The brand is even explo­ring opti­ons to use orga­nic cot­ton sewing threads ins­tead of the recy­cled poly­es­ter thread curr­ent­ly used.

The cot­ton comes from coope­ra­ti­ves in India and Tan­z­a­nia. The­se orga­ni­sa­ti­ons sup­port cot­ton far­mers to grow orga­ni­cal­ly in a way that is good for the pla­net. The­se orga­ni­sa­ti­ons are also OEKO-Tex cer­ti­fied. This cer­ti­fi­ca­te gua­ran­tees that the clo­thes do not con­tain harmful chemicals. 

AFRIEK goes even fur­ther in their sus­tainable approach. The brand choo­ses the most sus­tainable solu­ti­ons for every part of their designs. The labels are made of orga­nic cot­ton, the T‑shirts are prin­ted with water-based ink and the brand uses pla­s­tic-free pack­a­ging mate­ri­als. AFRIEK also made the sus­tainable choice of Coro­zo nut for the but­tons on the Imi­gon­go dress. This mate­ri­al comes from Ecua­dor and thus has a lon­ger distance to tra­vel, yet it is more sus­tainable than pla­s­tic buttons.

AFRIEK plans to focus even more on sus­tainable pro­duc­tion in the future. The brand is working with their cot­ton pro­du­cer to impro­ve pro­duc­tion and puri­fy was­te water more. The brand is also explo­ring the pos­si­bi­li­ties of repla­cing but­tons with a more local, natu­ral mate­ri­al as well as plans to recy­cle old AFRIEK garm­ents in a cir­cu­lar way.

AFRIEK uses near­ly exclu­si­ve­ly orga­nic cot­ton in their clo­thes, this is sus­tainable and easy to recy­cle. Only the sewing threads are made of rPET (recy­cled poly­es­ter). The brand is explo­ring the pos­si­bi­li­ties of repla­cing the­se threads with a natu­ral material. 

In the future, when the clo­thes are 100% orga­nic cot­ton, and colou­red with natu­ral dyes, they will also be biode­gra­da­ble. In this way, AFRIEK wants to pre­vent their designs from con­tri­bu­ting to the glo­bal was­te problem.

AFRIEK has a fair­ly short sup­p­ly chain as the mate­ri­als are pro­du­ced in the vici­ni­ty of their work­shop in Rwan­da. In addi­ti­on to their ate­lier in Rwan­da, AFRIEK also has its own loca­ti­on in the Netherlands.

The cot­ton comes from Tan­z­a­nia and is pro­ces­sed in its neigh­bou­ring coun­try Rwan­da, whe­re it is used to make the dres­ses. The T‑shirts are made by a pro­duc­tion part­ner in Tan­z­a­nia and then prin­ted and sold in the Netherlands.

AFRIEK is stron­gly com­mit­ted to ani­mal wel­fa­re, the coll­ec­tion has recent­ly even gone com­ple­te­ly vegan!

The horn but­tons on the dres­ses were repla­ced by woo­den but­tons. The­se but­tons are made from the Coro­zo nut from Ecua­dor, a sus­tainable and plant-based alter­na­ti­ve pro­du­ced wit­hout the use of chemicals.

AFRIEK designs and pro­du­ces small coll­ec­tions. The clo­thes are made in small bat­ches and can also be made-to-order. This means that the gar­ment only goes into pro­duc­tion when an order is pla­ced. In this way, the brand com­bi­nes pre-orders and orders from shops to avo­id over­pro­duc­tion.

The AFRIEK coll­ec­tion con­sists of uni­que and colourful designs. The brand col­la­bo­ra­tes with artists to bring tog­e­ther dif­fe­rent cul­tures and styl­es. In this way, the brand wants to con­tri­bu­te to a more inclu­si­ve socie­ty.

The AFRIEK coll­ec­tion is com­ple­te­ly trans­pa­rent. The brand shares all the pro­du­cers they work with and pro­vi­des infor­ma­ti­on about the mate­ri­als they use. Moreo­ver, on the label of each gar­ment, you can even see who spe­ci­fi­cal­ly made it.