Afriek

BLOOM COLLECTION ORGANIC COTTON + NATURAL DYES, FULLY SOURCED IN EAST AFRICA.

let’s go to the countryside, connect with nature. where we can hear our thoughts, dance with the wind, hear the birds sing. learn from the flowers, the plants and the trees. let mother nature's cycles guide us. after turning inwards in winter, now it’s time to bloom. in the countryside of Musanze, Rwanda, our dresses are dyed in tune with nature pits of avocados. shallot skins. leaves of local trees on organic cotton from Tanzania. nature shows us abundance: everything can be transformed into something new. creating beauty from waste. creating in harmony with the earth. connecting deeply and bloom together.

Join us to Rwanda, where our dresses are ethically made and dyed with plants. At AFRIEK we constantly improve fashion production for our fellow humans and for the environment.

Natural Dyes

We want to show the world the beauty nature has to offer us. So together with Handspun Hope, a social enterprise in the west of Rwanda, we colored our entire collection from regional plants, such as avocado pits and shallot skins.

“Your skin is your largest organ – better to feed it with the most natural fabrics and dyes.”– Sivan Breemhaar, Founder

Local Organic Cotton

Sivan, our founder, personally traveled to meet with the farmers and see the organic cotton fields in Tanzania, the closest source for organic cotton to Rwanda. The cotton cooperatives strongly align with our values, as they guarantee buying cotton from the farmers who own their land, get training and farm in a regenerative way through crop rotation. Only rainwater is used for production of the cotton. The cotton then was woven and printed at UTEXWRA, a local Rwandan mill and printer, a primeur for Rwanda and an important step forward for sustainable fashion production.

Pioneering Cross-cultural CollaborationThe dress was designed as a trans-continental collaboration between Rwandan artist Crista Uwase, French textile designer Stéphane Barbier, and Dutch-Japanese designer Lisa Konno. For the first time AFRIEK designed its own print incorporating Crista’s hand drawn designs, inspired by the Imigongo, a national traditional pattern that is an important part of Rwandan’s heritage. As always, the dress is sewn by our great team of tailors in Kigali, Rwanda and you will find the name of the tailor who made your dress stamped in the neck label.

Slow fashion

Our Spring/Summer 2022 collection is in fact one piece. In contrast to over production and big collections we introduce a Uniform: a flowy shirt dress that fits as many bodies as possible because of its wide fit. We hope to inspire and enable you to wear a dress that aligns with your values while you’re working on making a change in this world. Our community reflects that they feel the love that was put into creating this product.

“Wearing the dress for me felt empowering, feminine and light. It connected with me in a way I think I’ve never felt connected to before, especially with a clothing item.”- Raheema Somani

Truly Together

Our aim is to create mutually valuable and respectful collaborations with everyone we collaborate with. Sustainability, equality and transparency are central to our core philosophy and have been so since 2013. We produce everything in our atelier in Kigali, Rwanda where we also produce white label for other sustainable fashion brands and companies. Since we researched and developed Rwanda’s first locally sourced and produced organic cotton, we have been sharing it with other Rwandan fashion brands. We can make the biggest impact when we truly work together. 

Wear the change, We are the change. Our difference is our power.

AFRIEK is sold online at www.afriek.com and for rent at www.lena-library.com in Amsterdam.

Watch our documentary here

afriek.com