Tradition Is Luxury
With Awurama Mankatah from Threaded Tribes
What does luxury mean to you? In a fast-paced, flashy, fashion environment, we are told that luxury is Kim Kardashian in Loewe on the cover of Vogue, high-end Western brands like Gucci and Balenciaga or anything in the brand book of Kering. These are depicted as the pinnacles of luxury. And yes, this is luxury to some; but often the supply chain behind these so-called iconic brands are far from luxurious. What if luxury in fashion went beyond the hype and exaggerated price tags? What if it was more than looking a certain way, but rather delved into a way of doing, a heritage, a tradition? Imagine luxury as something that respects the process, the time and technique it takes to make clothing, whilst simultaneously honouring the past. That is genuine luxury, and it’s what I witnessed first-hand.
I met Awurama Mankatah, founder of the sustainable luxury fashion company Threaded Tribes, in Accra, Ghana. We talked on a shoot day as the skies alternated between rain and shine. Her energy was focused, and she has an astonishing ability to multitask. I waited to speak to her but it was worth every minute of observing a passionate woman in her element. I watched her creative team gravitate around her as they prepped for the shoot. I could see the hard work that goes into an exquisite brand right in front of me. She introduces herself as a Leo, which is unsurprising from all she was achieving in front of my eyes with her stunning mane-like hair framing her face.
A self-confessed “little art nerd” Awurama created Threaded Tribes as a way to harness her creativity, channelling her unconventional mindset into the brand. The idea for it popped up when she first saw mud cloth, a traditional Malian fabric that is coloured using fermented mud and plant dyes. As the name suggests, mud cloth is, reminiscent of mother earth herself. It can take months to make, just the painting and drying of the fabric can take anywhere from four days to a week to finalise as its finishing depends on humidity, rain and overall weather conditions. It is found in Ghana and across multiple African countries. Awurama realised that this cloth carried the potential to make stunning clothes. She explains:
“As a whole on the continent, we don’t really use our own fabrics to make clothes anymore. I noticed that huge gap in using our local textiles so part of me doing this is a way of protecting our textiles, making sure it doesn’t go out of style.”
What if luxury is also the privilege of protecting heritage? As Awurama mentions, there is a loss of interest in traditional textiles in Ghana. As 15 million tons of secondhand clothing from the global North flood into Accra’s Katamanto market every year, people often turn to cheaper Western brands or Chinese fabrics imported into the city. This means that local textile industries are undervalued, leading to the neglect of some of the country’s most precious textile heritage. However, brands like Threaded Tribes are reclaiming this heritage.
Awurama didn’t study fashion, but realises her background in psychology and philosophy come into play even as a fashion creative. To her, tradition is a luxury and Ghanaian culture embodies that boldly.
“When it comes to our traditional events, people immediately go back to our type of luxury to be the best dressed. They go back to their Kentes and the laces, which is a clear indication that it’s luxurious. Luxuriously made by hand, each strand and just the energy that goes into making it means it comes out with that energy. It’s definitely sustainable luxury.”
Awurama is right, there is nothing basic about African fabric at large and Ghanaian fabric specifically. They are sustainable without trying, there’s no need for the buzzword. Most are biodegradable and made with natural elements which adds to the luxurious nature of it all. Awurama travels to Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and other Western African countries to source these luxurious fabrics. To her, this is not just about Ghana, it’s about Africa as a continent and protecting its cultures as a whole. She travels across Africa herself to obtain fabrics because there is “nothing like going to the source,” she beams:
“I feel alive when I’m getting into these cultures through knowledge and understanding of their local fabrics,” she says.
The undeniable truth about African culture is that it is sustainable. Africans’ adoption of innate recycling practices to local textile craftsmanship passed down for generations is all sustainable. This matters because it means there is no bringing sustainable practices to Africa. In truth, Africa is endowed with the potential to teach the world what true sustainability looks like, especially when it comes to traditional African practices in textiles and fashion. What’s been harmful to the continent is the import of non-sustainable practices and products, combined with a post-colonial addiction to single-use plastic. This will take years of mass education and public policy reform to change. However, some African countries, like Rwanda, are championing change in an exemplary way at a communal level (read THIS article for more). But that is a whole other topic…
I ask Awurama what her favourite African fabric is. It’s a tough pick for her but she settles on Baule. “Baule slaps,” she says enthusiastically. “Baule is a fabric from Cote d’Ivoire, from the Baule tribe, which actually migrated from Ghana, so their patterns are reminiscent of the Kente patterns.” She loves the ease of it, Baule is malleable and versatile.
It was a chance encounter that led her to Baule. She discovered some of her other favourite fabrics through travel. Awurama came across Fugu when she travelled to the North of Ghana to a region where a large percentage of women work as Fugu cloth craftswomen. It’s their main source of income.
“I was sort of on vacation and saw these women under a tree weaving, so I got curious to see what they are doing and yes, they were casually making art under a tree.” Awurama still works with the women she met there. Unsurprisingly, women are the carriers of the legacy that is this cloth. Female craftswomanship across the continent drives the traditional textile industry. Without women, these skills would be lost. When we say 80% of people in the fashion industry are women, it’s not just within offices or classic garment factories, it’s across cities and towns and villages around the world where women collaborate, exchange and keep textile heritage alive.
Awurama is part of the 80%. Her brand is thriving even though textile production in Ghana is not always easy. As is the case whenever you want to do things the right way, with the right people. The precision required to produce the quality that Threaded Tribes consistently delivers is born of the time and attention Awurama pours into it. It’s easier when a brand is small but as it grows Awurama feels the challenges that come with expansion. But she is determined to sustain the level of luxury Threaded Tribes brand stands for. “After months of up and down and blasting people and anxiety, we always get to the finishing we need.”
When we ask Awurama where she envisages Threaded Tribes in five years, she’s reluctant to over-project but she’s aiming for “a big flagship store so people can go and experience the brand” all while remaining truthful to the traditional luxury DNA of the brand.
