In 2023, Vogue Business named Erica de Greef and African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) co-founder Lesiba Mabitsela as part of a group of 100 'next-gen entrepreneurs and agitators' in the global fashion world, who are overhauling the current system and designing a different future.

In this episode, we unpack why Vogue gave them that accolade, how Erica sees fashion as a decolonising tool, what different stories need to be told and how a different approach to fashion can tell those, what to do with White clothes collections buried inside South African and other museums, and how a single archived dress can be re-imagined to fill the gaps in Africa's fashion history.

It is only as recent as 2016 that 'Africa' and 'Fashion' were used together in the same sentence, and Erica very evocatively explains why. She also explains why the term 'slow fashion' might not be the most suitable, or chosen, term for fashion in Africa.

It is only in the last twenty years that South Africa started to develop its own local fashion brands, and in this episode Erica reveals the part she played in that development.

For those wishing to understand the past erasure of African fashion and its relegation to ethnographic museums and descriptions - and the work being done to change that - this episode is for you.

For more information on Erica de Greef, visit her page on the AfricanOptimist website, where you can find her bio, show notes and episode transcript.

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