Green fashion made in Ghana

DW (English)

Former banker Peter Kweku Anowie left his corporate career to pursue eco-fashion. Alongside his former schoolmate, he co-founded Koliko Wear, a company that crafts shoes using repurposed materials.

Transcript

00:00If you want to buckle my shoe, I welcome you to another episode of my awesome.

00:07Today, we are diving into the world of creativity and sustainability.

00:12And guess what? I'm live in Takuradi at Koliko Uwe.

00:17I will be learning how to use recycled

00:20materials to make a shoe like this. Are you guys ready for this?

00:25Let's go there.

00:27I'm Peter Kweku Anori, the founder and the CEO of Koliko Uwe.

00:31This is my hustle.

00:33Mr. Peter P.

00:36Samson.

00:38Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, man.

00:40All right, without wasting your time,

00:41what does it take to be an eco-friendly shoemaker?

00:45What it takes to be an eco-friendly shoemaker, Samson,

00:48I want you to learn it practically.

00:50So from here, I'll take you around, then we'll move to the workshop.

00:53And do you think it's something I can learn in a day?

00:55A smart guy like you partnering with Koliko, everything is possible.

00:59We are going to grab a few raw materials that we will use in making our shoe.

01:03Almost 20 million tons are being dumped in Africa every year.

01:08Are you serious?

01:09A lot of them come to town.

01:10Wow.

01:11And most of the time we are not able to consume all.

01:14What kind of shoe are we making today?

01:16So today we are making jeans shoes.

01:19So Koliko jeans shoes, like the one you are wearing.

01:21So we will grab edges.

01:23And also we will grab a textile sheet that we will use to do our lining.

01:29Peter, are we done?

01:30No, we are not done.

01:31I want to take you to one dump site so that you know the reason for

01:35really coming to the market to help rescue this material before it's too late.

01:40The reason why Koliko started with what we are doing is because of this.

01:45You can see the whole land, the whole parcel of land here is destroyed by the waste we make.

01:50We try to rescue the textile waste by visiting the second-hand clothing market

01:56to buy the worst one there before they end up coming there.

02:00You are my apprentice, if you have to pick one.

02:01If I have to pick it, because you are going to cut them.

02:03Wow, I can make a shoe out of it.

02:06Where are we going next?

02:07From here, we are driving straight to the workshop.

02:10Because you are making pair, pair means two.

02:13So if you trace or if you mark one, you are supposed to mark it two.

02:18You get it so that you can get the left and the right.

02:21Am I doing it right?

02:22Perfect.

02:23Good.

02:24The next process is the gluing process.

02:27So gluing.

02:28So we are going to glue the inside.

02:31Because after, when you make the shoe, this place would come out.

02:34Journey of a thousand miles.

02:36To begin with, a sole.

02:39And not just a good sole, but a sustainable sole.

02:42So a sustainable sole that we are using is car tie.

02:44One may ask, why car tie?

02:46As we went to the downfield, you saw how the ties were being disposed.

02:51And all these things too, they take longer years before they decay.

02:55So we thought it was, why don't we use car tie?

02:58Cut it into pieces like you can see.

03:01Luzon, you were once a banker.

03:03How do you move from banking to shoemaking?

03:06I traveled out.

03:07I came back to Takrade, Western region.

03:10I met an old friend who was already into shoemaking, who was folding up.

03:14So I thought it was, why don't I partner

03:17with the little resource that I've gathered from bankers.

03:20And this step, now the sole has been glued, the upper part too has been glued.

03:24We are just supposed to fix it together.

03:26Correct. Correct.

03:27Let me just put it on.

03:29OK.

03:31Gently.

03:32Densely.

03:36And now we take it to the machine and press it.

03:40So with a presser, it can direct you.

03:44Exactly my size.

03:46I love this.

03:47Thank you very much, Paulis.

03:49Thank you very much.

03:49And so much, Rachel, man.

03:51And thank you very much for this gift.

03:52You're welcome.

03:53Who could have thought that a beautiful shoe

03:56such as this can come out of trashed materials?

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