South African fashion designer Wanda Lephoto says Africa’s competitive advantage in fashion is rooted in cultural knowledge and storytelling, not only in materials, fibres, or production capacity. She argues that inherited skills and collaboration help transform cloth into garments with meaning that the world cannot easily replicate.
Both outlets frame her view as an expansion of what “value” means in the fashion supply chain. Instead of focusing solely on manufacturing inputs, they emphasize the historical and cultural context behind designs. In this framing, craftsmanship and the shared human expertise behind making and branding garments give African brands a basis to compete in global markets. The articles also present her perspective as a rationale for why African fashion should be understood as more than the end product—highlighting the stories and knowledge carried through design, technique, and community.
While the sources focus on the same core message, the AllAfrica and IOL write-ups use slightly different emphasis—one describing “stories only Africans can tell,” and the other pointing to “histories” and cultural knowledge that give garments meaning.
