Name: Kenyan fashion designers upcycle waste textiles
Uploaded: 2025-11-27T19:30:01.014Z
Duration: 3 min 9 s
Description: About 92 million tons of textile waste are thrown away each year around the world. In Nairobi, a group of young designers wants to raise awareness about waste textiles while also showing the value of used clothing.

About 92 million tons of textile waste are thrown away each year around the world. In Nairobi, a group of young designers wants to raise awareness about waste textiles while also showing the value of used clothing.

Nairobi

In Nairobi, Kenya, large amounts of discarded clothing from Europe and the U.S. end up in the city's largest dump site, with only a fraction being reused. A group of local fashion designers and filmmakers have organized a fashion show at the Gikomba market to demonstrate how these unwanted textiles can be upcycled into new garments.

The initiative, led by designer Luka Wakarindi, aims to challenge perceptions of thrifted clothing as waste and calls for better sorting of imported textiles to reduce landfill. The designers also urge brands and consumers abroad to take greater responsibility for textile waste, hoping their efforts inspire a shift in attitudes toward fashion and sustainability.

Kenyan fashion designers upcycle waste textiles

This is Nairobi's biggest dump site. Mountains of rubbish, sky high. It's not just regular waste. Countless items of clothing can be found here, thrown away by the global north. To some people, there's value to be found here, from curtains to women's shirts and kids' jackets. Every week, another ton of textile waste arrives here. We've seen a lot of clothes here from different labels, from Europe, from the U.S., often made in China. And while a few of them can be used again, many of them just end up here on this dump site, the biggest dump site in Kenya, which keeps on growing day by day. Ten kilometers away is Nairobi's biggest second-hand market, Gikomba, a place where such clothes were actually supposed to get a second life. The clothes are imported and sold to local traders in bulk, at a cost of between 50 to 115 U.S. dollars per bundle. What traders can't sell goes to the rubbish tip. But there are people who want to change this. A group of fashion designers and filmmakers want to show that it's possible to turn one person's trash into another's treasure. They're preparing a fashion show at Gikomba market. Cut-up jeans, worn leather, and studded belts. All you see here is thrifted and upcycled. It's the brainchild of Luka Wakarindi, who herself owns a store at the market. We want to undo the idea that every item that you find on thrift is not, you know, it's waste, because it's not, because I have been able to build a career out of the pieces. But then I'll also tell you that whenever we are thrifting, you find so many pieces we can't use, you know. Luka thinks the clothing should be sorted through properly before it reaches Kenya, so that less of it ends up in landfill. Some designers are going to extra lengths to use unwanted fabrics. This was like a curtain, but it was a one-off piece, so people don't usually take those. Like this here, we have used, like, mix and match, because it was such a small piece, because the whole sense of us upcycling, we want to move from the mistake that was done maybe in Europe, where they made something that was not wearable, something that was not, like, consumable. By that he means clothing disregarded by fashion houses because of small production errors. Both the designers and show organisers believe that the issue of textile waste needs all hands on deck. Starting with the brands, who they say should take on more responsibility for the waste they produce. And the customers abroad, who should think twice before turning their backs on unwanted clothes. So the show seems to have been a success, the people in the second-hand market feel that their work is valued, and some of the items at least got another life. With trucks of clothes rolling into the market every day, it's clear that not all of them can be turned into glamorous outfits. But the designers here hope to have inspired a different way of thinking about fashion and waste.

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