Africa Now features 12 brands selected in partnership with three organizations
Galeries Lafayette is turning the third floor of its Boulevard Haussman Paris flagship store into a pop-up celebrating African fashion designers. Entitled “Africa Now,” it will run until July 8 and showcase emerging brands from the continent, which is gearing up to launch the Pan-African Fashion Alliance, a new public-private partnership intended to facilitate domestic and international trade within its burgeoning fashion sector.
Partners CANEX, Adama Paris and Africa Fashion Up x Studio Ka will present pieces from Africa’s most in-demand designers. CANEX, which stands for Creative Africa Nexus, hopes that the collaboration will help in integrating African fashion within international markets. The organization was founded by the African Export-Import Bank, or Afreximbank, to support the region’s creative and cultural industries. It chose Morocco’s Late for Work; Boyedoe from Ghana; British-Nigerian brand Wuman, and Kenyan jewelry label We Are NBO, to showcase at its Africa Now table.
Afrixembank’s goal with CANEX is to subsidize the continent’s creative industry in the absence of governmental support. Its investments, which it’s doubled to $2 billion for the 2024-2027 period, are paying off: for the 2025 Met Gala, it helped Ozwald Boateng dress celebrities like Jaden Smith, Burna Boy, Issa Rae and Colin Kaepernick, as well as supported the Savile Row tailor’s May residency at Atelier Jolie.
The market value of clothing and footwear in sub-Saharan Africa alone was estimated at $31 billion in 2020 and is set to continue growing every year, according to a UNESCO report published in 2023. There’s high potential, but issues such as a lack of infrastructure, high fabric sourcing costs, and poor intellectual property legislation are hurdles. To tackle some of those issues, Afreximbank is joining forces with the Geneva-based International Trade Center to establish the Pan-African Fashion Alliance.
Afrixembank’s manager of intra-African trade called Africa Now the most important retail initiative to date for the program. With the pop-up, Galeries Lafayette spotlights the continent’s rising fashion voices while backing global integration. As the Pan-African Fashion Alliance takes shape, it signals a promising step toward sustainable growth, positioning African design not just as a moment, but a movement.