California Apparel News

Diesel and Edun launched their denim in Africa series at Los Angeles retailer Ron Herman on March 23 where a fashionable crowd gathered with complimentary Moroccan themed food and drink in hand.

To kick off the celebratory event in the West Coast, guests were carried away into the night with special musical sets by DJ Myles Hendrick and Wade Xavier. Singer and Studio Africa ambassador Solange Knowles gave a magical 40-minute performance, alongside composer and producer Dev Hynes, commonly known as Blood Orange.

As a part of the Diesel + Edun collaboration, the Studio Africa campaign was conceived as a “platform” to speak to the burgeoning creativity and talent out of Africa. An assemblage of nine visual artists, literary figures and musicians from across the continent, are being highlighted.

Studio Africa recently took its global events to Paris, London, Tokyo and Berlin.

“My love for African fashion, music and art runs deep to my core and has been a significant source of inspiration to me as an artist. I'm constantly being exposed to such innovative African talent so I'm excited that Diesel + Edun is celebrating that extraordinary creativity through Studio Africa and taking me along for the journey,” said Knowles.

Diesel founder Renzo Russo and Edun’s Ali Hewson are passionate advocates who believe in building global awareness and opportunity through fashion and the arts.

The 25-piece collection gives recognition and ownership to the people of Africa. It was inspired by the cool style of the 1970s, where the four-pocket denim feature was a common thread worn on the streets of Africa back-in-the-day.

Everything is manufactured in Africa with CCI cotton grown in Uganda and cut, sewn, and washed products born out of Northern Africa – Tunisia and Morocco.

The Diesel + Edun capsule collection features unique embroidery details that pay homage to traditional Zulu weaving, while the dresses offer Kenyan metalwork.

Edun CEO Janice Sullivan proudly wore soft, light-weight, printed pants made out of Africa. The craftsmanship and relaxed fit gave a true vision to the garments Edun is producing.

Sullivan said, “In Edun’s contemporary line, 40 percent of our production is done in Africa. We have a farming project in Northern Uganda that we oversee with an estimated 8,000 farmers where cotton is grown. We work on many different pillars – we do our own production, while we partner with artisans and big brands to attract production within the continent.”

The Diesel and Edun partnership came about because “We were looking for a partner that could buy the cotton, turn it into either t-shirts that could be spun or knit and in terms of denim that could be woven. We are a small company so we could never have that sort of scale so Diesel, being an international denim brand, was the perfect [fit.] They bought an entire harvest of our cotton – they spun it and wove it into denim and knits. We put our passions together and it has become a dream for us. This was a chance to highlight amazing talents and bring [everything] to life.” she said.