I did all the research and writing to create a basis for the webinar, Going Global with African Studies and Fashion for Harvard's African Studies Center. The project, initiated by designer, Gavin Rajah, was based on my research which found that, as an example, one-in-two people in the world works in fashion, or 3.45 billion people, according to the World Bank.
The global fashion industry is worth $3-trillion or two percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product. And yet black designers form less than five percent of this mega-industry.
In the United States only four percent of the members of the Council of Fashion Designers are black. Just three percent of those who show their garments on Paris runways are black.
Unesco tells us that the African fashion and textile industry:
"is the second-largest sector after agriculture in Africa, with an estimated market value of $31-billion in 2020 and growing every year, with the potential of creating jobs for millions across the continent, especially for women and youth. Persistent issues such as lack of investment and infrastructure, weakness of vocational training, brand development and protection, difficulties accessing new markets and challenges linked to ecological, ethical and sustainable factors are affecting the sector's development."