Western interest in African fashion has had its ebbs and flows. In recent years, it has become popular again, as evidenced by African designers who grace the red carpet; partnerships with popular retailers such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Moda Operandi; and programs such as Lagos Fashion Week and South Africa Fashion Week which gain international exposure.
Luxury e-retailer Industrie Africa (IA) was one of the few organizations celebrating designers across the continent long before it was “in fashion.” Established in 2018, IA began as a directory of African talents, highlighting over 80 brands from 24 different countries. Two years later, it expanded into an affordable platform,to operate a curated, cross-border African fashion brand at the highest level. In the past five years, it has shipped to 58 markets and worked with designers in 20 countries.
Image: Courtesy of Industry Africa
On Thursday, IA announced plans to shut down its e-commerce site, effective immediately.
“Three things brought us here: market volatility, rising operating costs and the realities of supply and demand,” IA Founder and CEO Nisha Kanabar told Ujo Shop. Challenging market conditions forced Kanabar to rethink how IA could continue without compromising its mission of promoting African talent globally. It led him to build IA+, a retail consultancy that launches on Thursday, to replace the now-shuttered store.
The unit will work with hotels, cultural centers and retail outlets to develop trade channels for African products. “The job hasn’t changed, but the car has,” explained Kanabar. “IA+ brings the same processing precision and market intelligence the company was built on to physical locations around the world…It naturally supports our expanded designer and artist community by further representing them within these projects and creating more direct routes for global buyers to access and purchase their work.”
Below, Kanabar discusses closing an e-commerce store, creating IA+, the economic barriers African designers face and more.
Image: Courtesy of Industry Africa
What does the closure of the online store mean for the participating brands that depended on it?
We are committed to developing the African fashion industry at a high level… That growth will happen through our Designer Index on our renewed website after the sale closes on May 1, evergreen retail or design collaboration opportunities with future partners and the continuous promotion of these products through our highly engaged social media channels.
Although we are exclusive online stockists for a few of our products, many sell through other channels and stockists, and several have their own direct B2C operation.
Image: Aart Verrips/Courtesy of Industrie Africa
IA ran its online store for five years. What are your biggest takeaways from that experience?
Narrative rendering is an important part of a product’s operational infrastructure. Given the large number of our customers who had never had an individual interaction with products or products sold on our platform, we realized that the planning framework is not a surface layer added after the fact when marketing products; it is part of the functional value of the product.
We also learned something important about who was buying. Our strongest customers didn’t behave like typical online shoppers – they shopped selectively and kept coming back. The first order was usually the largest, a sort of discovery basket. Later purchases were small and deliberate. It looks less like mainstream fashion e-commerce and more like a discerning collector’s market, which is shaping where we go next.
Image: Courtesy of Industry Africa
What are the biggest challenges African brands face in expanding globally?
The necessary conditions of scale often pull against the conditions that make the job unique. The economic stress facing African composers today.
For example, expanding our designer list through our retail platform increased the number of cultures, but also increased operational flexibility in equal measure… When brands had strong processes, orders flowed cleanly; when they didn’t, delays and escalations were common, and we accepted the results. The scale is limited by how many brands can meet consumer expectations without jeopardizing their manufacturing integrity – a threshold of operational maturity that most independent manufacturers have yet to reach due to inventory issues and production challenges.
I went with IA+: How does it work? And how can companies interact with the platform?
We work with luxury hotels, cultural centers and fine dining establishments on marketing strategy, planning, direction and enablement — building experiences that are culturally unique, commercially oriented and practical.
We don’t run sales every day, but we stay involved long enough to make sure that what is designed is what is delivered.
Five years of e-commerce have taught us something specific: High-value shopping decisions require high-trust environments. In the physical environment – especially in the hospitality area, where the customer is already there, and the context is already rich – maintenance can do its job properly. The burden of explanation is low. No algorithm stands in the way between the customer and the piece. That’s where this design phase works best, and that’s where we take this next.
Image: Aart Verrips/Courtesy of Industrie Africa
Can you share any current IA+ clients? Which US projects are active?
The division’s flagship project is SoLA (Society of Luxury Artisanship), a luxury resort on Bawe Island in Zanzibar developed in collaboration with the island’s resort. Designed as an extension of the visitor experience, SoLA serves as a cultural retail destination and a case study for the future of integrated tourism marketing across Africa. We are planning to open the opportunity to work with US institutions, as we know that a lot of our customers are based there.
What does the future of IA+ look like?
We have a lot to look forward to! Our second SoLA location will open in early 2027 in Stonetown, Zanzibar, a public access location, meaning the work will not be limited to resort guests. With our separation, our plans to expand this category with international operators to all luxury hotels, cultural centers and fine dining venues will be realized, and provide customers with unique opportunities to continue to connect with new and popular brands that represent the African continent.
Broadly speaking, I think we are at a turning point in African fashion. The last decade has been about getting work seen online. The next phase is about creating the kinds of physical, contextual places where they can be better understood, bought and preserved. That’s the job IA+ is here to do.
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