Malawian designer Chris Ngalu is defining African identity through fashion – and keeping it totally sustainable! Let’s take a look.
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00:00Back to the future with old clothes? Sure, with sustainable fashion.
00:06It protects the environment and is therefore also socio-politically effective.
00:11How and why can it also create identity?
00:14And what does all this have to do with visas?
00:16Let's ask Chris Mgalu.
00:18It was during that time when there was war, so there was a lot of migration.
00:21So my grandparents came from Mozambique and settled in Malawi, deep down in Chikwau.
00:27For me, being multicultural and having that kind of a history,
00:30it influenced me to create one of the collections that I have, which is called No Visa.
00:40This Afro-futurist from Malawi has founded a sustainable clothing label
00:45to shape the future the way he thinks it's worth living.
00:50What makes him believe that fashion in particular
00:52has the power to change identity, environment and society?
00:59I have a responsibility to do social commentary for my community and for my race
01:05and to make sure that whatever work I put out is of substance
01:09and that it represents something more than just looking good when you wear it.
01:13It needs to have a message behind it and needs to stand for something
01:18that is just much bigger than us.
01:20So this collection, No Visa, literally is just a collection that talks about
01:25how Africa is the same, we are all multicultural,
01:28not everyone is really family from where they think they're from.
01:32If you try to research your history, you'll find out that your parents
01:35or somewhere down the line, they came from somewhere.
01:39So being that, there's a lot of things that make us unite than divide us.
01:49For Chris Ngalu, fashion is more than just clothing.
01:53It is a way for people to communicate with the world.
01:56Beyond sustainability and cut, the names of Chris' collections
02:00are more than just titles.
02:02Anxious, No Visa, etc.
02:05What is his focus here?
02:07We have Jika'u and Vizuazua, which are mostly sustainability-based collections.
02:15We also have Ofulu, which is also about representation,
02:19and Lodafinu, one of my recent ones, which is a dedication to my grandmother,
02:24but it's mainly about heritage and cultural identity.
02:32Sometimes I do collaborate with leading artists in the country,
02:36so we work together and shoot these fashion films and stuff,
02:39which I post on my YouTube.
02:41Sometimes we get news articles that write about us as well.
02:44Across the continent, Malawians are known for their immaculate tailoring,
02:48and their luxury designers are gaining increasing international visibility.
02:53Chris' base streetwear is the contrary.
02:56What makes clients come to wear upcycled, thrifted clothes?
03:00I don't think you'd find something like this brand new,
03:03but also you wouldn't find something like this in the market or wherever,
03:07just because these are different materials that have been woven together.
03:12So you can see there's some parts that are knitted,
03:15and then there's some parts that are stitched,
03:17some parts that are embroidered, actually,
03:19and I kind of appreciate that as a consumer.
03:26Kancuka, which means clothes sold in a heap in Chichewa,
03:30are very popular in Malawi.
03:32The term is a collective term for used clothes,
03:35mats, bedding, and even household items.
03:38New goods are often unaffordable and of poor quality.
03:42Kancuka, or second-hand thrifted clothing,
03:45is seen as a quick solution for obtaining fashionable and high-quality clothing.
03:51So how does Chris manage to work with this?
03:55People look at it as, this is old stuff,
03:57so for me to actually change that perception
04:00so that people know that when we restyle it and repurpose it,
04:05this is still as worthy as anything else that you can get in a shop,
04:10that's one of the biggest challenges.
04:12But as of now, I managed to convince the people,
04:14and they understand now how all these things are also,
04:19even though they are from Kancuka and we restyled them,
04:22they are just as worthy as something which is new in a shop.
04:25As a trained graphic designer,
04:27Chris has won several awards
04:29and has also exhibited his clothing on the European continent.
04:32Chris Ngalo's streetwear brand, BASE,
04:35is an acronym for Bold African Striving for Excellence.
04:39Does he think he's still striving,
04:41or are his clothes at the level that he wants them to be?
04:44Sometimes we get quite a lot of orders
04:47so that we may need to make maybe 50 pieces a day,
04:50so that's why we need to diversify
04:52and to make sure that we widen our production scope
04:55by engaging with different organizations
04:58like the way we are here at Judith Foundation,
05:00of which we can have like, for example,
05:02here there's maybe 10, 11 tailors,
05:05they can all get a garment each,
05:07maybe by the day we finish up maybe like 50 to 60 kinds of garments
05:12and make sure that the production is just moving at a good pace.
05:16And we're still pushing the boundaries
05:19and increasing the production line.
05:21We're also venturing into luxury kind of branding,
05:26so some of the clothes now, we've switched them up,
05:30the way we package them, the way we sell them,
05:33including our retailers.
05:35As of now, we are working on an order
05:37that is going to Belgium right now,
05:39so that's kind of like where the mind is at.
05:41In a world that is increasingly
05:43In a world that is increasingly
05:45dominated by outward appearances,
05:47Christopher Ngalu wants to encourage
05:49the young generation of Malawians
05:51not only to look good,
05:53but also to take a responsible approach
05:55to clothing and their origins.