Bora Wear

check us out at: borawear.com/blog

Bora Wear, Hulkshare, and Life Changing Records are collaborating to bring some limited edition clothes to the masses. When you purchase these shirts, not only does part of the money go to TOTO Love (the orphanage for HIV+ children), but it also helps children receive clean water in Haiti!

Pre-orders are up right now!!! Check it out. Make a difference!

Being a solopreneur really allows me to figure out what I want Bora Wear to be and see if that vision resonates with people. Now I want to find an apparel design partner who can share my vision and take this business to the next level. #lookingforavisionary

I had a great conversation with Aaron Firestein (@aaronfuegostein) about how he and his partner got started with their company. I definitely appreciate him taking time out of his busy day to talk to someone who is just starting out. Big Ups! #DoingBigThings

Better Clothes, Better Africa. That is the credo that motivates Bora Wear. The core of this company is that mission and we strive to achieve it everyday. Currently, we part of the proceeds are going to TOTO Love in Embu, but we aren’t satisfied with that. We want to do more and truly change lives. 

What we intend to do is best shown in relation to other brands. Take TOMS shoes and their fabled one for one shoe model. Yes, a child who previously did not have a pair of shoes now has one but giving a child that shoe has not changed their underlying condition. The child is no further from poverty. The child’s general condition hasn’t change except that they now make a great photo op. 

Bora Wear wants to do with apparel what Oliberte is doing with shoes. Oliberte produces all their shoes in Africa, employ local workers, emphasize the importance of equity in the work place, and work to minimize the environmental impact of their factories. Now that is a company that is making a deep and impactful change. This company is an inspiration and as Bora Wear moves forward we want to continue to embed our mission into every aspect of the business. 

A common question I get is why we don’t do full clothes out of the fabrics, like the above example from Y’oh. Admittedly, I have a couple of my own shirts that feature African fabrics, are bright and bold, and I love them. But something that I am always thinking about is accessibility.

Yeah these designs are great, but I want to allow the greatest amount of people to experience these fabrics. That’s what I mean by accessibility. I want people who have never heard of kiteneges, khangas, shukas, or kikoys to look at Bora Wear and say “Hey, that’s kind of cool”. I want people to ask about the history of these fabrics and know something more than just calling it “African fabric”. 

These are bold fabrics. But the bright,vibrant nature of these fabrics should not be a deterrent for people to experience and wear something that has such strong history. We want everyone to experience these fabrics and know that our designs will enable that to happen.  

We take a lot of pride in the fact that all our fabrics are sourced straight from Africa. This fact might seem unnecessary and obvious to some that our African fabrics come from Africa, but it actually is very important,especially when you know about the Dutch monolith that is Vlisco.

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Every morning I read about a whole host of articles about random fashion news. I just read about this brand in Japan called Kolor, and they definitely piqued my interests. Can’t exactly say I like the clothes all that much, but their website is killer, which probably shows my weakness for well written code.

Opportunistic or Satire?