News

African fashion is built overwhelmingly on women's labour and craft, yet the legal frameworks governing property, credit, and work were not built with women in mind. A look at what that gap actually costs.

A practical comparison of Africa's two regional IP systems, OAPI and ARIPO, for fashion brands expanding across French-speaking and English-speaking Africa, and why the difference matters more than most brands realise.

AGOA has been extended through 2028, giving African fashion exporters three years of restored trade certainty. But behind the relief lies an unresolved structural trap: the very provision that makes African apparel globally competitive is also what's kept the continent locked into low-value assembly work for over two decades.

Ghana has taken a significant step towards strengthening its textile and apparel industry.

Most weavers, dyers, and independent tailors across Africa operate entirely outside formal legal systems, meaning the artisans whose hands actually produce the continent's most distinctive fashion output often have the least protection over it. A collective structure, backed by documented provenance, offers a real path forward, one that doesn't require waiting for the law to catch up.

The global halal fashion market is worth over $800 billion, and Africa sits at the centre of its growth. Yet halal certification across the continent remains fragmented, cultural branding carries risks most fashion law ignores, and almost nobody is writing about the legal questions behind one of the industry's biggest, fastest-growing segments.

Most conversations about protecting an African fashion brand start and end with copyright, trademarks, and design rights, and…