Ngozi Okaro wanted a custom dress. Then she met Mariama from Guinea, who could make her not only a dress, but any garment she asked for. Suddenly, an idea hit her, “What if we give people like Mariama one or more tools for their toolkit?" she tellsAnd we train her and support her, so she's making a lot more money than she is now? There are so many women who would pay to have clothes like that, that fit their body and make them feel good about themselves.
In 2016, these questions led her to start Custom Collaborative, a New York-based non-profit social enterprise, after leading initiatives at National Urban League, INSEAD, and Yale. The mission is simple, according to Okaro: “Provide earned income opportunity for women, so they can participate in the fashion industry, at a wage and contribution that's comparable to what they bring to it.
The most surprising part of the journey so far, says Okaro, is people’s misunderstanding of what these women want. Somebody recently approached her after a panel to say they didn’t realize that people from the global south would want to design clothes. That’s just not the case, but Okaro doesn’t blame anyone for misunderstanding. She wants to uplift these artisans so more people realize that they exist and that their work matters.
In Okaro’s eyes, the human element often goes missing from the sustainability discourse, which tends to focuses on environmental impact. “I have always felt that when we're talking about sustainability, unless we're talking about sustainable and fair wages for people, then it's not a whole conversation,” she says. “We can't just talk about the planet if we're not talking about the people on the planet who are making these clothes.