Catherine Afeku joins others to cut ribbons at the Du Bois Memorial Centre
The W.E.B Du Bois Memorial Centre, in collaboration with the Department of Fashion, Design and Textiles at the Accra Technical University, has held a two-day fashion and craft bazaar to commemorate the African Union Day.
The event, which was held under the theme: ‘Sustaining Africa’s Authentic Fashion & Clothing Industry’, opened at the centre, near the American Embassy in Accra last Friday.
It had 40 exhibitors displaying various creations from African fabrics and local foods.
The Minister for Tourism, Arts & Culture, Catherine Afeku, bemoaned the influx of foreign fashion, clothing and design, which is competing with the local fabric industry.
She called on Ghanaians to follow the good example of President Akufo-Addo, who has endorsed the ‘see Ghana, eat Ghana and wear Ghana’ campaign by wearing various African fabric styles at important national and international functions.
“Government has initiated various policies and programmes aimed at restricting and improving the sector to create employment opportunities for the youth, expand and diversify our service-oriented economy into production based economy,” she stated.
The minister continued that one of the ways the African fashion and clothing industry could be sustained is for Africans themselves to patronise made-in-Africa clothing, which according to her, is a reflection of the African culture and heritage.
She appealed for a paradigm shift and rethinking through a value-chain approach in order to make sure that made-in-Africa brands can make it to the global level.
The Executive Director of the WEB Du Bois Memorial Centre, Constant Gladzah, indicated that the event aims at promoting African fashion and textile industry and the creation of a platform for young fashion and design students to showcase their creative designs to the world outside their campuses.
By Solomon Ofori