What You See as Waste, Africa Collect Textiles Sees as Purpose

A look into how one African social enterprise is transforming discarded textiles into a sustainable future, where old fabrics find new purpose through innovation and community.

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At the showcase aisle of the Africa Collect Textiles (ACT), there’s a variety of materials for sale. You will find toys which also double as home decor, kitchen wear such as oven mittens and aprons, and a remarkable collection of woven denim and khaki carpets and baskets. There are also several pairs of upcycled Birkenstock shoes remade with Kitenge fabric off-cuts, and backpacks made from old security uniforms.

Among the array, I am particularly drawn to the “New You” lizard, fashioned from old denim and Kitenge fabric. It is almost poetic that the stuffed animal encapsulates the work at the ACT, where, just as a lizard continually sheds old skin to form new coverings, the organisation gives new life to fashion industry waste once doomed for landfills and waterways.

It is no longer news that the fashion industry significantly contributes to global environmental pollution. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), every year, 92 million tonnes of textile waste are produced globally. Discarded clothes from the global north end up in developing countries that oftentimes lack the proper infrastructure to manage the waste.

Africa Collect Textiles is a social enterprise that collects such post-consumer textiles and footwear and repurposes them into new products. It operates in contrast to mainstream fast fashion linear production systems, and instead creates cyclical networks that minimise textile waste and reduce the impact of fashion pollution on the environment.

ACT currently operates in Kenya and Nigeria, two countries with high imports of second-hand clothing. Kenya, for one, is currently Africa’s largest importer of second-hand clothes (colloquially called Mitumba). Nigeria’s thrift culture is also well documented, with the local bend-down-select and Okrika clothes favoured by low-income households because of their abundance and affordability. But amid the desirability of second-hand clothes is also the lurking issue of environmental pollution, as most of these imports are of low quality, causing them to end up at dump sites.

Digital footprints reveal that the ACT initiative was founded in 2014 by Alex Musembi
and Elmar Stroomer. They offer an innovative approach to textile pollution on the environment, collecting used textiles – both unsellable and used clothing – and transforming them into newer materials, thereby extending the lifespan of these fabrics.

At present, there are over 40 drop-off points for old fabrics in Nairobi, and a budding presence in Lagos, where individuals can donate used fabrics for recycling. In a recent podcast with Jacob’s Ladder Africa, the sorting officer at ACT explains the sorting process that occurs after a donation. Donated textile is grouped into wearable and non-wearable materials. The former is graded and resold accordingly, while the latter either undergoes further stitching or weaving to be transformed into sundry materials.

It takes grit and commitment to run a social enterprise whose raw material depends on goodwill donations, and then market the refurnished product to compete among its fast-fashion counterparts. Some time in April this year, I joined in on the Building African Fashion (BAF) media equity “Cross Learning Between Media and Fashion Brands” event. Nathalie Botango, the Communications Manager at Africa Connect Textiles, a guest speaker at the virtual event, mentioned in passing some of the challenges with communicating environmental awareness and the need to recycle while still merchandising ethically produced wear.

ACT must not only communicate the practicality of circular fashion for sustainability but also present its products as desirable fashion items. Still, ACT is thriving in its own right, and there are positive highlights as the brand takes advantage of collaborations and traditional and digital media.

On their Instagram page, I am first enticed to click on a reel from last year, when I notice a cover image with bold “Denim Glow Up” cursive. But then, I stayed to the end, as Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” is overlaid on a transition video of a pile of denim made into interior decor art. In another reel, I see a weaver, Eunice, at her loom, as she spins discarded fabric into a carpet, and this time, with a warm and calming tune in the background. This approach to storytelling reveals the social awareness proponents' efforts to cut across different demographics.

African lifestyle culture is deeply rooted in sustainability, to which our fashion techniques are not excluded. And organisations like Africa Collect Textiles draw our collective attention to old systems that are beneficial to both Africa’s environmental and economic development, while still staying attuned to contemporary times.

At the 2025 Nairobi Design Week, ACT collaborated with Ugandan artist Eperu Magala to create a knotted tent upcycled from 223 pairs of old jeans. A tent made of discarded jeans may seem like a curiosity, but within it lies a deeper question of what else have we thrown away that could still shelter us? ACT reminds us that sometimes environmental solutions come from repurposing what’s already here, and in that sense, we, too, are transforming our mindsets.

All photos used in this article are from the ACT Instagram page.