Why Kenya's Streetwear Scene Is Ahead Of The Curve
Studio 18, a design collective and concept store located in Kuona, a not-for-profit arts center in Nairobi, is a home for small, community-focused brands. It's just one of example of what Kenya has on the western fashion market.
By Isis Pinheiro
Photos by Matthew Matete
Published
Street To Street is a monthly column on the globalization of Black American culture through fashion.
For decades, the fashion cycle has worked in intervals. Designers show collections six months ahead of the time they will be available to consumers. This is why Spring/Summer fashion week takes place in August and Fall/Winter fashion week shows in February. Fast fashion corporations use the gaps in this cycle to create what is essentially a seasonless non-cycle. Instead of producing collections twice a year, these stores stock new items constantly, sometimes as often as every week.
The speed at which fast fashion brands churn out items — a direct result of exploitative environmental and labor practices — allows them to satiate the instant gratification cravings that seem to be rising within all of us. These companies sell their own items while also creating replicas of ready-to-wear runway pieces (along with ripping off smaller designers, but that’s for another essay) months before the luxury brands send their clothes to market. Instead of waiting six months for the high-end trend of the season, consumers can head to their local H&M or Inditex subsidiary and get the look for a drastically cheaper price in as short as a few weeks.
This seasonless model has cornered luxury labels into showing Pre-Fall and Resort collections, which serve as supplements to the main collections and aim to steer revenue into the other conglomerate’s pockets. It has also resulted in unusual collaborations such as that of Mugler and H&M — it will make you wonder what the point of it all is anyway.