Being crowned as one of Fashion Week San Diego’s top, emerging designers in 2015 is no easy feat, but the African-inspired brand TaSanni continues to prove otherwise. Created by childhood friends Fatsani Chikwana-Dogani and Tariro Mapuranaga-Sibanda, the brand was made with Africa in mind. With it’s fun, vibrant prints sourced from the beautiful continent intertwining with the necessary staples found in every woman’s closet, it makes perfect sense that it continues to remain a fan-favorite today. While the brand itself is relatively new to the industry, it’s been taking San Diego and the world by storm.
In the fashion world, it’s basic knowledge that what you wear is a representation of yourself, who you are, and your style. As a result, many designers across the globe set out to create visually stunning pieces to meet that ever-growing demand for all fashionistas alike. However, that’s sometimes met with a high cost.
One of the biggest problems facing the industry today are the controversies of low-cost labor. With our world growing more interconnected with one another each year, it’s easy to picture how companies utilize this connectivity to take advantage of dirt cheap labor and outsourcing materials, most of which comes from poor countries such as Egypt ($0.80 per hour), Sri Lanka ($0.62 per hour), and Bangladesh ($0.23 per hour), just to name a few. In the ever increasingly capitalistic society of today’s world, more people are inclined to place more attention to fattening their wallets and minimizing expenses as low as possible than to consider the detrimental side-effects this behavior produces.
TaSanni, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Priding itself as an ethical-focused fashion house, the brand economically and financially gives back to Africa by remaining consistent on purchasing and buying material from the country. In turn, this grows new job opportunities that were made possible through TaSanni.
Even though it’s still early in the New Year, TaSanni has already begun to conquer 2016. After the release of its 2016 Spring Collection on the San Diegian runways, it has generated quite a buzz. In order to meet the deadline of April 16th, the founders, one of which I had the pleasure to meet at Glamour on Goldfinch, realized that they needed to employ more talent to meet with the increase in demand. With the due date slowly approaching, they started a Kickstarter campaign to help meet those needs while arising awareness. By pledging your support, you’ll not only be contributing to changing the lives of artisan tailors in Africa, but you’ll be a part of helping Africa be on it’s way to becoming a clothing manufacturing hub in the near future.
You can donate here.
Meanwhile, take a look at some of TaSanni’s 2016 Spring Collection below:
Eyga, model and Miss South Sudan 2015, in the Thandi Flared dress.
Model Tiffany Williams in the Zandi Flared Skirt and the Sleeveless Print Jewel Neckline Top (from the 2015 Collection)
Model Mayra Guzman in the Nozi Sheath dress
For additional information and pricing, visit their website here.
In the words of a TaSannista, “Love it. Dress it. Own it.”
