ASOS Africa Autumn 2010

Check out the great new styles produced by SOKO for the ASOS Africa Autumn 2010 collection online.... visit www.tinyurl.com/asosafricaaw10

African prints designed by asos

After the succesful production of the first half of the ASOS Africa Autumn/Winter collection SOKO's tailors are busy working away on the second half.

Phillip (our Master Tailor) cutting the fabric


The second part of the collection includes the colourful One Shoulder Dress. This dress is particularly special as the fabric on the top part of the dress was designed by the ASOS team and the fabric was printed in Tanzania. After the hundreds of metres of fabric were printed it was shipped to Kenya ready for production; making this dress a truly unique African creation!

SOKO in the Metro....

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ASOS: Africa's great material gains

ASOS Africa: The online store’s fairtrade African range will liven up your autumn wardrobe.

ASOS: Blacket coat, £75

Brighten autumn evenings with a blast of colour by ASOS Africa.

This is the collection’s second outing on the site since its launch in February 2010, where it forms part of ASOS’s Green Room, which offers brands that promote people and planet.

ASOS: Biker jacket, £75

ASOS: Two-in-one skater dress, £50

Traditional African fabrics and specially designed Kitenge cloths, a heavier fabric used in winters in Africa, are used to create tulip skirts, wrap dresses, maxi and cheeky skater skirts.

It’s fast becoming one of the prettiest fairtrade ranges around – ASOS Africa

is made with small, impoverished communities in Africa, allowing them to establish long-lasting businesses using local craftsmanship.

It’s a means of income for communities and celebrates traditional skills.

http://www.metro.co.uk/lifestyle/839681-asos-africas-great-material-gains

ASOS Africa Autumn/Winter 2010

We've been working away for the last few months on the ASOS Africa A/W10 collection. The first collection is leaving our workshop on Monday destined for the ASOS warehouse.

We still have 152 garments to complete, quality check and pack by Monday but there is a great vibe with everyone working their socks off to get the shipment out on time.

We are producing 100 dungarees for ASOS. The print was designed by the ASOS Africa team and the fabric and printing was from Tanzania. This style has caused us a lot of stress with the fabric arriving last week and the buckles arriving yesterday. We are living and breathing dungarees! Here is Dominic cutting away....

Keep your eyes peeled as the collection will go live on www.asos.com in the next few weeks.

We're in.....

Our extension is finally finished and we've moved in!

The first ASOS Africa Autumn/Winter 2010 delivery of 1000 units is due to leave the workshop next week so we haven't had much time to sit back and enjoy it but as you'll see below we've managed to fill every inch of the new space already.



As I write we are planting a little garden at the front of the workshop. We'll show the finished product next week.



Our team of ladies ironing and packing the ASOS range.



Ezekiel, one of our beaders working on a beaded piece for the October ASOS delivery and Naomi, one of our quality control team.

Training at SOKO

This week three of SOKO's youngest, newest tailors return from a month of tailoring training. This fantastic opportunity is being run in partnership with Wildlife Works www.wildlifeworks.com, at Rukinga Wildlife Reserve, approximately 3 hours drive from SOKO’s workshop.

When SOKO’s tailors arrive with us they receive the appropriate training from our Master Tailor, Phillip, and other senior tailors. The tailors are trained in sewing specific garments using foot pedal machines. The need for further training has arisen due to SOKO, purchasing new industrial machines, hence providing the opportunity and the need for tailors to increase their skills set.

At Wildlife Works the tailors learn the whole process of CMT (cut, make and trim) manufacturing from a different company’s perspective. They learn how to: cut patterns, use industrial sewing machines, quality check garments and finish the whole product off. The most important skill that they learn during their month at Wildlife Works is how to use an industrial sewing machine.

Whilst undertaking this training the tailors are provided with a wage, food allowance and accommodation by SOKO; in addition to this Wildlife Works kindly gives the tailors lunch every day. This training is an amazing opportunity for our tailors as training in Kenya can be very expensive.

SOKO will continue this partnership with Wildlife Works until all of SOKO’s tailors have been through the training. The next three tailors leave us at the end of the month.

A huge thank you to Wildlife Works for the great training they are providing SOKO’s tailors.

Kenya referendum

As you may have seen in the news over the last few days, yesterday the 4th August 2010 marked the day when all Kenyan citizens voted Yes or No to a new constitution. This has been a big deal here as it is the first constitution since Independence and marks Kenya's future. The best summary on the details of the constitution can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/cnnreferendum

So, what does it mean for us?
We closed the SOKO workshop yesterday and today. Yesterday, 4th August was marked a National Holiday and today we continue to be closed. I am not one for scaremongering, actually I can be quite the opposite, but I was advised to close. The last time the country had a national vote in December 2007 there was horrendous violence and over 1000 people died. We all believe that this time there will be peace. Everyone I have spoken to says 'We have all learnt our lesson', the Government officials are promoting peace and the police are out in force but the complexity of tribal divisions and underlying tensions are still here.

The news is reporting that the Yes vote looks to be in lead by over 60% - we will not know the results until later today - following the answer we pray for peace.

All going well we open tomorrow and wow do we have a lot to do.....