AFWL Inspires The Next Generation of Designers Take On African Textiles

For the second year running, Africa Fashion Week London, The Adire Oodua Textile Hub has partnered with the Manchester Metropolitan University’s Fashion Institute to challenge the next generation of designers to engage with one of West Africa’s most iconic heritage textiles: Adire.

The brief was simple in theory, but ambitious in practice.

Second-year BA Fashion and Textile students were asked to explore how Adire fabrics could reach a new, clearly defined audience while preserving and communicating the origins, cultural significance and craftsmanship behind these historic textiles.

But this year the bar was raised.

Instead of designing a single product, the students were asked to think like entrepreneurs, strategists and storytellers. Each team had to develop a full business proposal centred on a collaboration with the Adire Oodua Hub.

Students could propose launching their own brand, working with the Hub, or creating a collaboration between the Hub and an existing global fashion brand. Either way, they needed to build a complete concept: a business strategy, a defined target market, a hero product, either digitally or physically prototyped, and a clear plan for how that product would be marketed.

In short, they were asked to think beyond fashion design and into real-world fashion business.

And the results were extraordinary.

Across the programme, students explored sustainability, technology, storytelling, and new commercial models, demonstrating that heritage textiles like Adire are not relics of the past but powerful materials for shaping the future of fashion and culture.

Two standout projects rose to the top.

Agile – Supporting Motherhood Through Design

One of the winning concepts, Agile, reimagined the textile through the lens of motherhood and movement.

Working collaboratively across disciplines within the institute, the team developed a concept for a modern women’s sportswear brand that creates sustainable, functional sportswear designed specifically for mothers. Grounded in nature, heritage and the beauty of everyday motherhood, Agile proposes working directly with Nigerian artisans to incorporate authentic Adire fabrics into contemporary sportswear.

Their hero product was a multi-functional maternity sports jacket, designed to support women through every stage of pregnancy — before, during and after. The garment combines adaptability, comfort and technical design with the distinctive visual identity of Adire.

The students developed detailed CAD work and a technical pack to demonstrate the garment’s design and construction, showing how heritage textiles can be integrated into modern performance apparel.

The concept received strong feedback from the judging panel and has now been selected to move forward to the next stage – producing a short fashion film that will be showcased later this year at AFWL.

Adire Pixels – Bringing Heritage into the Gaming Universe

The second winning concept pushed the boundaries of what “fashion” can mean in a digital world.

Adire Pixels explored how the visual language of Adire could live inside the rapidly expanding gaming ecosystem.

The team developed the concept of a fully digital fashion brand that creates character skins for popular global video games, inspired by the distinctive patterns and symbolism of Adire textiles.

The idea emerged from a simple observation: while gaming is one of the most influential youth culture platforms in the world, African visual representation remains extremely limited.

Adire Pixels proposes using digital skins as a cultural gateway. When a player selects an Adire-inspired skin, they are introduced to a short visual story about the heritage of Adire and the work of the Adire Oodua Hub, helping educate a global youth audience about the origins of the textile.

The team also explored innovative launch strategies, including augmented reality installations at major African gaming expos, bridging fashion, technology and cultural storytelling.

It’s a bold idea and exactly the kind of forward-thinking approach we hoped to see from this programme.

Why This Matters

Projects like this are exactly why AFWL continues to invest in education and cross-cultural design collaboration.

African fabrics are more than a textile. They are history, identity, craftsmanship and economic opportunity. By placing it in the hands of young designers, strategists and innovators, we are helping ensure that its future remains vibrant, relevant and globally recognised.

From maternity sportswear to digital gaming skins, these students proved something important:

African heritage textiles are not limited to traditional fashion spaces. They can influence everything from performance wear to the metaverse.