Madwomen is a brand that produces locally hand-made fashion products for export to other Africa countries and internationally. The brand currently has women who are about to embark on a trip to the Malawi Fashion Week on the 24th of June 2017 to showcase their work and hopefully make a mark in the African fashion world.
All together, the Madwomen programme currently has about 40 unemployed ladies between the ages of 18 and 65 years participating in this initiative. The ladies are from various parts of Gauteng – not just the inner city.
The programme is a non-profit organisation, which was started by the Amen Fashion label established in 2012 by Abiah Mahlase and Bradley Muttitt, in partnership with the City of Joburg.
“The City of Joburg runs programmes at the various empowerment centres around Johannesburg. They allocated us 28 ladies initially, and then the numbers grew. We are not sure how many of the ladies will be coming to Fashion Week with us – it depends on how successful our fundraising initiatives turn out,” said Muttitt.
According to Muttitt, the programme was started to, “inspire a generation of women to make their mark in the manufacturing of fashion textiles, fashion garment construction and the fashion retail industry.” It also seeks to equip women in Africa with skills and resources that can help fast-track their entry and contribution to the fashion and manufacturing industry.
“We want to inspire a generation of African women to be worldwide women by producing locally hand-made fashion products for export to the fashion capitals of the world.”
Read: Joburg locals win big in Fashion competition
To prepare for their trip to the Malawi Fashion Week, the ladies recently held a workshop at Bertrams Inner City Farm (City of Joburg Women Empowerment Centre) where they were able to showcase some of their ideas.
“The women participated in a four-day seminar covering various aspects of the fashion industry such as, pattern making, garment construction, textiles production, fashion business retail as well as designing their collection for the Malawi Fashion Week.”
The Madwomen brand is currently selling bags, scarfs and garments made by the women as a fundraising initiative.
To contribute to its cause through donations of various kinds, contact Bradley on 082 332 8412 or madwomenmadebywomen@gmail.com
