Maryse Mbonyumutwa founded the brand Asantii after a long and rich career in the mass market working on Asian production sites in China, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. After realizing that garment and its manufacture should value quality, durability and ethics above all, she decided to select designers from different African countries, to develop one of the first pan-African brands.

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Pan-Africanism

I quickly came to the idea that my project should be pan-African. When we see the tiny share that our continent represents in the global production of the fashion business, in terms of African brands or African designers, I felt that I had to play a role of a catalyst. I have sourced designers in more than 12 countries, first allowing them to structure themselves by working freelance for Asantii before being able to develop their own brand, still within the collective that we form. It is by coming together that we become stronger and more impactful.

 

Mentality

We must shake up mentalities, we have to change points of view if we want to make African excellence shine. And I think that our timing is right, we are discovering a young African generation that is finally uninhibited, hyper-connected, who finally believe in their own assets. Pioneers like Virgil Abloh have done us a lot of good, luxury today is turning to Africa and we must be proud of our centuries-old and traditional heritages that infuse our aesthetics today.

 

Cultures

We are living an important "momentum" where Africa, through music, is now influencing the whole world. Our cultures are rich and unique. But to continue to elevate ourselves and cultivate our uniqueness, we must always aim for excellence, review our criteria and our quality standards upwards, because it is only with this rigor that we will be able to change the image that the Western world still projects on our continent today.

 

 

Find Maryse Mbonyumutwa and her brand Asantii during the 6th edition of Afrodyssée, from May 5 to 7 in Geneva.