Paper short abstract:

Drawing on recent fieldwork in Ghana and digitally on social media, this paper explores how independent fashion designers who target cosmopolite audiences navigate a global fashion system that craves for “sustainable” and “authentic” ways of consuming clothing.

Paper long abstract:

How does local notions of sustainability translate to global audiences, and vice versa, how does standardized notions of sustainability translate into local fashion making? This paper sheds light on how the notion of “sustainability” affects independent fashion designers in Ghana. Through ethnographic fieldwork that was conducted in Accra both pre- and post-pandemic and digitally online, I trace the material and digital realities of artisanal fashion brands that produce locally, utilize expert craftmanship and hand-woven fabrics, among other "indigenous" techniques related to garment manufacturing. My interlocutors based their sustainability claims on sociality and aesthetics, which differed from the material-centred sustainability discourse in the West. Many designers favoured an unfinished look that was inherently present in most hand-woven fabrics as it signalled authenticity and uniqueness in the global marketplace. However, as larger retailers started to show interest, it was exactly the unfinishedness that created tensions as retailers were customed to unified quality standards. These material tensions were outweighed by the market desires: as the notion of sustainability was understood by the global audiences as an indication of morally produced clothing, the bid for morality seemingly extended to the designers as well. My interlocutors faced a post-BLM fashion system that was infatuated with Black culture in general and craved for ‘authenticity’ and ‘inclusivity’, and Ghanaian fashion satisfied this need. In this paper I argue that the sustainability discourse opens new possibilities for Ghanaian designers looking to enter the global fashion system.