From soccer pro to fashion icon

DW (English)

After an injury ended his athletic dream, Senegal’s Aboubakarim Ndaw stitched a new one, making waves in the world of fashion.

Transcript

00:00A century of style and history at the heart of Dakar.

00:06This self-taught designer stitches the fabric of a new dream,

00:11one born from pain, persistence and possibility.

00:16But how did Aboukwakarim's failed dream of becoming a soccer star

00:20lead to handmade clothes whose designs evoke migration paths?

00:26I think about it a lot, like the design I want and the way I want to be.

00:33It's not especially, I don't take it out on paper usually.

00:38I just thought about it and then I come and I bring my own clothes and I cut it off

00:44and I tell my workers this is the way I want it, this is the way I want it, this is the way I want it.

00:49And if I go to my bag, people make my bags and stuff, I come to them and then I do some

00:55some drawing, not great but then I get the memo.

01:01Born in Guinea, to Senegalese parents, Aboukwakarim grew up loving fashion.

01:07But this only influenced his sense of style, not his dream.

01:12Before the stitch, there was the pitch.

01:15He grew up wanting to play professional soccer, a dream he passionately pursued.

01:22He wanted to see the world and represent his country.

01:26Soccer was his ticket.

01:29In his teenage years, his parents sent him to Senegal to enroll into a soccer academy.

01:36Soon enough, he was trying his fortunes in America.

01:40He had just become a dad.

01:43How was it like playing soccer in the US?

01:46I was very excited.

01:47I was very excited.

01:48It was a great experience.

01:50Actually, it was a great experience.

01:52I played in D2.

01:55When I was playing soccer, because it was D2.

01:59In the US, the D2, they don't pay.

02:01They take you in charge for your traveling, your hotel expenses, your food and stuff.

02:10But it was like playing for college, you know?

02:14You don't get paid, but you get taken care of.

02:17Just as he was about to take off on his career as a professional soccer player in the United States,

02:24an injury tore him away from his dream and life as he knew it.

02:29What followed was a raw, uncertain chapter.

02:33In between periods of stillness and soul-searching,

02:37Abubakarim left the US and returned to Senegal.

02:41He was reinventing himself by finding inspiration in his own culture.

02:46His start was small.

02:48He stitched a tie here and a bow tie there,

02:51learning the ropes of building a fashion brand with local materials.

02:56What sacrifices did he make to fit in his new path?

03:01It was a lot of obstacles.

03:03It's a lot of obstacles, man.

03:05It was, yeah, because finding materials,

03:12from finding materials, finding good workers, and then dedicating workers,

03:18it's tough.

03:19It's tough here.

03:20But you have to push it.

03:22And then you have to, actually, you have to teach people your vision.

03:29You have to impose your vision to people,

03:32and then choose who want to come with you in that vision,

03:36and then who don't.

03:38So that was, it's a hard decision sometimes,

03:42because you work with people who need work,

03:46but they don't realize they need work,

03:48but you cannot just keep them because,

03:52because, you know, it's friend or it's, you know.

03:56You have to be firm because you have your vision,

03:59and then you have to do that.

04:02Kakimbo, his fashion label, was born as a promise

04:06to make a successful career in Senegal

04:08that he wouldn't have to leave the continent for better opportunities.

04:13I mean, the feeling was great.

04:14And, yeah, I got very excited when I started making like a ties and bow ties,

04:20and then my first, I remember my first sold, my first exposition,

04:29and everybody got excited about the ties and bow ties

04:34because they never see anything like this in Senegal,

04:40and particularly the tie with the fabric, the wax print fabric.

04:45Yeah, they never seen it before.

04:47So people got very excited,

04:49and that make me excited to keep on going.

04:53Now, Abubakarim is a rising voice in African design,

04:58blending the discipline, routine, and a love for repetition

05:02in the very muscles he honed on the pitch

05:05to his newfound purpose in stitch work.

05:08Although at the start,

05:10Abubakarim pursued soccer as a passport to the world,

05:14he found style that brought the world to him.

05:18Now, he is focused on using fashion

05:21to inspire many people to build Africa from within.

05:28And that means to meet him.

05:30And at the end of the day,

05:32he would have thought that he would be giving us to the city,

05:35to include him,

05:38and add a lot of talent,

05:40and I will see that things that they will bring us together to solve.

05:42So he is,

05:43and he makes people,

05:44he's going to show his love for each other.

05:47And he has become their love for each other.

05:49He is so much for my first time,

05:51and that's what he has done to do.

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