Kimuli Fashionability

Traction We emerged as the winners of “Initiative Teilen” grant in Germany where we raised funds which were used to train 25 disabled women free hands-on skills of creative tailoring and up-cycled fashion from 2 nd September- 18 th October 2017. Through and after the trainings, the beneficiaries have been able to up-cycle over 2000 products both accessories and garments from plastic waste. On 27 th may 2017 we held our first charity fundraising fashion show at Pope Paul Memorial hotel in Kampala where we managed to raise 3000 USD. Also among the models were 5 disabled women who showcased the artistic up-cycled accessories and garments they produce from locally available materials. We hope to organize two shows every year for continuous advocacy and sensitization to debunk the societal exclusion created by mistaken assumptions towards disabled people and waste. T he funds raised are used for trainings and scalability of the project. One of our co-founder was selected as a ...

Problem and Context ON WASTE According to a case study done by the Kampala City Council Authority, 28,000 tons of garbage is collected every day, 40% remains uncollected. In Uganda, huge amounts of plastic waste are poorly disposed in trenches and water pipes causing flooding, water born diseases, death and extinction of water inhabiting living organisms. Other parts are burnt resulting in toxic fumes causing damage to people’s lung systems through promoting diseases like asthma and lung cancer. The toxins furthermore damage the ozone layer - a cause of global warming. ON DISABILITY According to the 2002 Ugandan Population and Housing Census, 16 percent of the population, are disabled.   Applying this estimate to today’s Ugandan population (approximately 42 million), 6.72 million Ugandans are disabled and excluded from full participation in social, economic life and educational programs which makes them vulnerable exposing them to severe   poverty. Predominantly ...

What Kimuli is doing Kimuli Fashionability creates up-cycled fashion and increases on the employability of the physically impaired and deaf people through training them with free hands-on skills of creative tailoring.  Training them with creative tailoring skills turns their disability into an opportunity of creating their own employment while saving the environment from plastic waste accumulation. African fabrics are blended with waste materials. In the absence of hearing, deaf people for example often have heightened kinesthetic and visual abilities resulting in high quality products with love for detail. Our target customers are both tourists who come to Uganda between the age of 20-70 years and African youths between the ages of 18-30 years who have love for African fashion. We also target stake holders like donors, investors and other care givers to boost the social business and scaling up to many African countries. We have empowered 25 persons who are now self-sus...