Kwetu Kwanza 2025 marked a milestone in East African sustainable fashion, drawing over 4,000 visitors on Saturday 22nd and thousands more across its four-day run. In its sixth edition,the event was held in partnership with the Nyege Nyege Festival, taking place beside the Portal Stage and sharing a programme with artists including Skrillex, Flowdan, Mr. Silverback, Arsenal Mikebe, and DJ Travella. This year also celebrated Nyege Nyege’s 10th anniversary, under the theme Ekigunda Ky’Omuliro (“The Gathering of the Flame”).
The collaboration amplified the shared spirit of both festivals: Nyege’s championing of underground African sound traditions – including singeli, Acholitronix, Kadodi, Gengetone, Benga, Gqom, Congotekno, and Balani Show – and Kwetu Kwanza’s dedication to natural, upcycled, and indigenous fashion, from barkcloth and raffia to turmeric-dyed textiles, repurposed plastics, and reimagined second-hand garments.
This year’s exhibition was staged inside a Karamojong-inspired manyatta, built from bamboo, branches, hay, mud, cow dung, raffia, and dried banana leaves. The village comprised 15 huts, each housing a different designer: two signature pieces on display and a rack of ready-to-wear garments for sale. The structure honoured the Karamojong’s deep ecological wisdom and their long-standing harmony with nature.
Kwetu Kwanza showcased 13 designers in the exhibition and over 15 in the marketplace, offering one of the most diverse gatherings of circular fashion talent in the region.
Programming & Performances
The festival opened with a collaborative demonstration by Turkish weaver Saba Arat and Ugandan designer Maganda Shakul, presenting their sound-responsive textile installation Resonant Threads. Later, performers staged a dynamic, deconstructed runway with live percussion by Kakuma Sounds Collective.
Friday concluded with a curated film screening by Hannah Allchurch, including the Ugandan premiere of The Resurgence of Lubugo, in partnership with Matatu Film Festival. Saturday featured hands-on workshops: natural dyeing with Titus Nartey Gakpe (Calcul Studios) and traditional barkcloth production with Ssekibuule Elvis, using Mutuba bark sourced locally.
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Radical Gatherings: A Cross-Festival Dialogue
A key highlight was the conversation “Radical Gatherings: Community, Collaboration, and Creative Resistance in Africa,” featuring Sammy Oteng (OWO Festival, Ghana), Katende Godfrey (Kwetu Kwanza) and Derek Debru (Nyege Nyege), moderated by Cynthia Mwangi.
Speakers explored the realities of organising from the margins and the importance of community-led creativity. Sammy Oteng emphasised the principle of community first – ensuring vendors, tailors, and upcyclers are not spoken for, but speak for themselves. He shared how celebration itself becomes a form of resistance, exemplified by the OWO Festival’s origins inside Kantamanto Market.
Kwetu Kwanza and Nyege Nyege echoed this philosophy by pooling resources to uplift artists and communities who are often overlooked. The gathering of designers from Ghana, Kenya, and across Uganda was a crucial step toward building solidarity and a long-term network for those working on the frontlines of Africa’s textile-waste crisis. Katende highlighted circularity as an inherent part of Ugandan cultural history – long predating its current status as a global sustainability buzzword.
From discussions on barter systems to the prioritisation of local vendors and the gifting of exhibition huts back to the community, Kwetu Kwanza 2025 reinforced a vision of grassroots organising, cultural preservation, and circular design as cornerstones of Africa’s creative future.
