WITH 16 years experience in the global fashion industry, living and working in four countries over four continents, fashion designer Jacqueline Shaw birthed Wax and Wraps, an African Fabric Sewing Subscription box, under the Africa Fashion Guide group.
I launched Wax and Wraps alongside training a group of my students to show them how to do it too
Jacqueline Shaw
The only sourcing consultancy and information-based platform for African fashion, Africa Fashion Guide Ltd provide tools to educate, inform and retune the perceptions of Africa’s fashion and textile industry – a vehicle she sees for trade and development.
After facing multiple redundancies and job losses, Shaw used the opportunity of covid-19 lockdowns to kickstart a new initiative, combining sewing crafts, with African sourced and handmade fabrics with an impact story – offering monthly projects, sew-a-long videos, and even online group support for members.
“During the first lockdown we have all been at home. I noticed how the crafts and sewing hobby market has been gaining traction and saw how the pandemic was causing many to return to sewing and many made masks for families or for sale,” Shaw said.
“I was wondering, as a business coach and industry leader, how I could help serve my clients and people more.
“I had a subscription-based businesses previously and saw the power of this model and doing that with an African focus as a solution.
“I launched Wax and Wraps alongside training a group of my students to show them how to do it too.”
Shaw’s own interest in other subscriptions saw her join many digital ones, but she never saw anything that brought together her fashion background, her love for Africa (and its vast array of fabrics), her support for sustainability from her MA Ethical Fashion degree, as well as her sewing craft skill.
So, failing to find a sewing subscription that also had impact with every box, she decided to create her own, using her network in Africa.
Along with sourcing Africa’s popular, colourful prints directly from African waxprint houses, Shaw focused predominantly on sourcing textiles from African artisans who had been challenged by the impact of lockdown, and who had skills in handprinted or handwoven fabrics.
She said: “Other sewing boxes do the job but they are all very similar and I felt that they don’t inspire me to learn more about the people or even to source responsible fabrics and textiles too.
“My Masters degree in Ethical Fashion from the UCA Epsom, taught me that in this fashion industry, we the consumers are the change we want to see.
“We are responsible for the impact of the industry on our planet and our purchasing decisions can build or break the industry. And its environment impact.”
Wax and Wraps African fabrics are handmade by artisans across Africa or sourced directly from the printhouses across Africa.
They are not available in general fabric shops. These fabrics range from hand printed, to hand woven, to handknitted and are all done in a new African country each month.
Each month’s box comes with an African Fabric Swatch Card that shares information on unique fabrics made in Africa and who made them.
Now celebrating one year in business and after a year of boxes, Shaw is also seeking to take the boxes to corporate level by offering a corporate gifting option to fashion companies and others with a taste and appreciation for crafts and social impact projects.
New subscribers who want to try out the boxes can get a 14 days Trial box to see what it will be like. Otherwise subscribers can jump in and save 20 per cent off the price of a box with a 12 month commitment plan.
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