The other day the owner of a clothing store asked us if we could help them curate a clothes swap event as it is something they have been considering for a while. It’s starting to look like people’s superstitions and religious beliefs are slowly losing their grip on sustainable fashion lifestyle options. 

This got me thinking about the slow but steady rise of sustainability in fashion within the city of Accra.

Meeting Renée C. Neblett was like meeting a wise and respected village Auntie who draws you in to sit and listen to stories. When I heard about the Kokrobritey Institute in Ghana, I knew I had to visit and talk to its creator in person. So I did. I was immediately captivated by the place. Kokrobritey is about an hour West of Ghana’s capital city of Accra. It’s a popular outside-of-the-city beach destination which sparked Renée, the founder of the Institute’s passion back in the 80’s.

In 2008 Rwanda instituted a ban on the sale, manufacture, import and general use of plastic bags. Rwanda’s government successfully got public buy-in of these measures through the introduction of ‘Umuganda’ (meaning ‘community work with the purpose to contribute to the overall national development’) whereby residents of each community across the country clean up their neighbourhoods on the last Saturday of every month.

The intersection between Fernanda’s spiritual and sustainability journey is truly inspiring. In 2007, Fernanda moved to London and pursued a degree in Sustainability. Here is where she discovered Fashion Revolution, a movement that urges fashion to put the well-being of the planet and people first.