The new podcast, Africa Fashion Futures, shares insights and expertise on African Fashion, the work of African designers, and opportunities and innovations in the industry.

Hosted by Dr Lauren England and Professor Roberta Comunian (Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries), and Dr Eka Ikpe (African Leadership Centre), the series explores fashion as not only a sector of the world economy, but also as a lens to explore cultural expression, memory politics and the making of traditions, as well as broader economic and social impact of the creative economy.

The first episode focuses on intellectual property rights in the design space. Professor Jen Snowball (Rhodes University) discusses (isi)Shweshwe and small business development in South Africa, including the real impact of property rights on the livelihoods of microenterprises.

At the time of speaking on the podcast, Professor Snowball was hosted at King’s through the Global Visiting Fellows programme – an initiative that aims to increase opportunities for collaboration, encourage mutual learning, enhance Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, promote excellent research that has impact, share educational innovation and contribute to sharing best practice.

Brand strategist and author of the book ‘Africa in Fashion’, Ken Kweku Nimo joins the second episode to talk about his research into African luxury fashion brands, including the idea of luxury. The conversation also draws out some connections between Ken’s work and the concept of Lead Firms from Below in African Fashion.

Episode three features Queen Ronke Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi, Founder of Africa Fashion Week London, discussing the evolution of the festival and her approach to sustainable fashion, women’s empowerment and leadership.

Edited by Cristina Cabral​, the podcast is co-created by the African Leadership Centre and the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, with the support of the King’s Global Engagement Partnership Fund.

It is part of the King's Together Project – African Fashion Futures, a project looking at fashion, specifically through the work of fashion designers. It offers the opportunity to establish a research framework, methodology and network of academic and external partners to provide an in-depth understanding of the complex and evolving nature of the fashion ecology in Africa (using Kenya and Nigeria as case studies).