November, 17th, 2012

Rome | IHT Day Two | The Bob Gel dof Fashion Afro-Euphoria

On the second day of the IHT Luxury conference, speakers were unafraid to examine different opportunities for the luxury industry in Africa. The overwhelming theme of the day was encouraging business and collaboration in Africa, rather than just philanthropy, while recognizing the massive cultural diversity within the continent itself.

Diego Della Valle, Chairman and CEO of Tod’s S.p.A., opened the second day with a consideration of luxury and philanthropy in his own country of Italy with lessons for luxury in Africa.

To Della Valle, in Italy as in Africa, much work needs to be done to grow business the right way, including providing men torship to young designers. He also highlighted preserving cultural resources as a mode of philanthropy, noting that financing “the res toration of The Coliseum or La Scala is one way of giving back to Italy and its people.“

Second at the podium was Francesco Trapani, President of LVMH Watches & Jewelry, who talked about a Bulgari campaign with a specially-designed silver ring to benefit “Save the Children” in Africa. The campaign, which began in 2009, not only has raised 16 million euros to help 350,000 children, but also has created employment in Africa, training 10,000 teachers and building 1,200 schools.

Trapani believes job creation in Africa is the real philanthropy to create long-lasting change. However, he remains hesitant about Africa as a distribution market for luxury, seeing that Nigerians want to shop in “Lon don, not Lagos.”

Following Trapani was Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe, direc tor of African Fashion International (AFI) and head of Motseppe Foundation, who is a doc tor by training but also a leading expert on African design. She discussed how “Africa holds the promise of positive production for the luxury market.” She also noted: "What drives me is the belief that by building African fashion br ands, we’ll be driving growth and job opportunities.”

According to Moloi-Motsepe, Africa now offers the second highest ROI in the emerging markets, second only to Asia. “We are looking for partnerships with established br ands to help our designers move to the next level via men torship & training. Many African designers have excelled in producing beautiful, and high end, the quality ranges.”

This emphasis on encouraging business in Africa and supporting African designers, rather than the top- down approach of just providing philanthropy, continued with Renzo Rosso, the man behind the $2 billion Diesel empire and the OTB and Only the Brave Foundation. Rosso discussed Diesel’s initial interest in Africa in the 1980s “ to produce t-shirts in Mauritius.” Years later, 19% of Diesel’s production takes place in Africa with an attitude of collaboration, not donation. Rosso noted: “I don’t believe in simply giving money away. I prefer to give them the opportunity to earn a salary.”

The discussion of opportunity for luxury in Africa stems from more than culture, even though that, too, is important. The number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) in Africa is growing fast. From 2010-2011 the number of HNWI’s in Africa grew 3.9%, whereas only 1.6% in Asia Pacific and 0.8% Globally.

Next, Suzy Menkes introduced the ever-inspirational Bono and his wife Ali Hewson of EDUN, a global fashion br and who have a trading relationship with Africa and support sustainable manufacturing.

Bono has had a long relationship with Africa through a variety of work. As Suzy noted: “Bono has done so much to help the West help Africa.” Yet, Bono commented that when he thinks of Africa he thinks of all that it has done for him, not what he has done for it.

Bono explained that EDUN came from realization that trade revenue potential could outpace charitable donations. As Hewson noted,“We founded EDUN on the respect for the people who make the clothes, the materials we use and the people who purchase them.”

At the panel, Bono announced that EDUN and Diesel have collaborated on a capsule collection that comes out in February 2013 using denim made from African cot ton that is also cut and manufactured in Africa.

According to Bono, “Africa is sexy, noisy and vibrant. By 2050 Africa will double the population of China. This is the future.… The future is Africa, not China.”

Following the EDUN discussion, Guillaume de Seynes, Managing Direc tor of Hermès International discussed how Hermès has found inspiration and creativity from Africa over the years. He noted how Tunisian-born Leila Menchari, the woman behind Hermès’ fantastic win dow displays in Paris since 1978, is frequently inspired by Africa. De Seynes said that ”[m]aking business in Africa will be the new frontier for the 7th generation of the Hermès family.“

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