Cloth moves, People move, Stories move with them
Afrotunda started with a simple idea: the things we wear can carry where we come from without keeping us stuck in the past. For me, clothing became a way to bring different parts of my world together.
The name Afrotunda comes from Luganda. Tunda means to sell. It is a word tied to exchange, movement and the energy of the market, which felt fitting for a label shaped by fabrics that travel from one place and one pair of hands to another.
Most collections begin with me in East Africa, walking through markets and looking for cloth. Sometimes I arrive with a clear idea. Sometimes one fabric changes the whole direction. That unpredictability is part of Afrotunda. I bring those finds back into the design process in the Netherlands, turning them into pieces made for everyday life.
The cloth usually speaks first
Before there is a jacket, a trouser or a shirt, there is fabric. Kitenge often catches you from across the room, with colour, pattern and detail all competing for your attention at once. Look again and there is usually something you missed the first time.
Kikoi works differently. Its character comes through the weave, the stripes, the weight and the texture. In Uganda, Kikoi has a familiar place within traditional dress, including beneath the Gomesi. At Afrotunda, we sometimes bring that cloth out from underneath and let it take the lead.
Both fabrics come with histories that existed long before us. Our role is not to reinvent them. It is to listen to what is already there, then find a shape that lets the cloth live differently. We source in small quantities, often one bolt at a time. Once a fabric is finished, that particular version of the piece is finished too. Then the search starts again.
Community grows through collaboration
Afrotunda is a small business, and we do not have endless resources. What we do have is the ability to build relationships. Collaboration is one of the ways we create community around the brand, by making space for independent creators whose work, ideas and craft we genuinely connect with.
From T Afrique to Accessories by Criola and Diebi Beauty Shop, each collaborator brings something of their own into Afrotunda. Their work is not absorbed into our identity. Their name, point of view and story remain visible. We see collaboration as a way to share space, introduce each other to new audiences and grow alongside one another, while keeping the work connected to the person who created it.
T-Afrique curates handcrafted jewelry and metalwork, bringing authentic African adornment into the daily rotation. Accessories by Criola creates expressive accessories in small runs, with each collaboration credited by name. Diebi Beauty Shop brings us Kélèya kimonos made from authentic Malian Bogolan mudcloth—100% cotton hand-dyed with fermented river mud and plant pigments. It’s a slow West African art form sourced with care and respect.
From the market to the finished piece
Afrotunda garments are made with independent tailors in Uganda and Kenya. Once a design is ready, we work closely with them on the cut, construction and finish of each piece. Their skill is part of what gives the clothing its character, especially when working with fabrics that can behave very differently from one bolt to the next.
Keeping production small also means we can stay close to the process. We know who is making the garments, we can respond to the cloth in front of us, and each run can remain as individual as the fabric it started with.
One family, A different point of view
Studio Nadee is a daughter brand of Afrotunda, born from the same curiosity about clothing, culture and the experience of carrying more than one influence with you.
Where Afrotunda often begins with the cloth itself, Studio Nadee gives us another space to play. Graphics, streetwear and Kitenge details come together with a looser, more experimental energy. It can speak in its own voice while still carrying the ideas and references that connect it to Afrotunda.
The two are part of the same family, but they do not need to look the same. Studio Nadee gives certain ideas somewhere else to go, while Afrotunda keeps following its own path.
Some things make more sense in person
Every summer, Afrotunda leaves the screen and shows up at festivals and gatherings across the Netherlands and Belgium. That is where the clothes become conversations. Someone touches a fabric and recognises it immediately. Someone else asks where it comes from. A person tries on something they would never have picked online and suddenly does not want to take it off.
Those moments matter to us because they remind us that clothing is never only about the object. It is also about recognition, curiosity, memory and the way people make something their own.
Many of the ideas that shape Afrotunda begin in a market. Others begin at a festival stall, halfway through a conversation. That is why we like keeping things small enough to stay close to what is happening around us. One fabric, one run, one new idea at a time.
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29 & 30 nov
African Food Festival
Fenix museum, Rotterdam -
Past
4 – 5 AUG
Black Pride NL
WestWeelde, Amsterdam -
Past
18 & 19 JUL
African Food Festival
Museumpark, Rotterdam
Want us at your event? Contact us.
More gatherings in the works.
Afrotunda is growing at the speed the cloth allows.
Small on purpose, authentic by design.
