Amplifying Heritage and Creativity at Afro Fashion Association

Founded in Milan in 2015 by social entrepreneur Michelle Ngonmo, the Afro Fashion Association (AFA) works to elevate creatives of colour while addressing the racial inequalities prevalent throughout the Italian fashion industry.

Observing the systemic blockades BIPOC designers face across Europe, Ngonmo established AFA as a platform to nurture talent and amplify underrepresented voices. Central to AFA’s mission is its annual talent incubation programme, where 10 designers of colour receive targeted mentorship and practical business training to help launch and sustain their professional career in design. The programme also provides networking opportunities and industry exposure.

This year’s talent cohort spans Europe, Asia and Africa. Through the programme, AFA encourages mentees to embrace their identity, with many participants building brands rooted in heritage and culture.

Emerging designers in the incubation programme — including Phan Dang Hoang, Zenam’s Paul Roger Tanonkou, Absent Findings’ Shivin Singh and Maxivive’s Papa Oyeyemi — and Iniye Tokyo James, who is on AFA’s broader mentorship programme, celebrate narratives in their work that have often been overlooked or marginalised by mainstream fashion.

Now, The Business of Fashion (BoF) hears from these five fashion designers to explore the challenges facing emerging BIPOC creatives and how AFA is helping them reclaim and reimagine cultural identity, bringing fresh perspectives and new aesthetics to global fashion conversations.

Phan Dang Hoang

Phan Dang Hoang is a Vietnamese fashion designer who graduated from La Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan in 2022. After returning to Vietnam, he launched his eponymous label, which later showcased at Milan Fashion Week. Blending Asian and Western influences, Hoang’s designs have featured in publications such as Vogue Italia and L’Officiel Vietnam. In 2024, he was named one of Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30.

What is the mission and vision of your brand?

Our brand is positioned as a premium label with accessible pricing. We are committed to incorporating traditional Vietnamese cultural values into designs, creating dialogue between tradition and modernity, the East and the West, and the past and the future.

We also focus on preserving and reviving traditional Vietnamese artisanal craftsmanship in a contemporary context. Our vision is to continue to share these cultural values and introduce them to people and places they may not otherwise reach.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur in fashion today?

The biggest challenge is balancing the creative with the commercial. In today’s volatile market, it is also crucial to maintain interest by focusing on thoughtful design, excellent service and strong marketing strategy.

How do you platform and celebrate your heritage through your designs?

My designs pay homage to Vietnamese tradition, much of which has been lost to the country’s turbulent past. I do my best to draw on what is still practised and cast it in a contemporary light. To achieve this, I blend research from visits I make to museums with learning about my heritage through trips to my homeland. When in Vietnam, I visit various regions and draw from the expertise of local craftsmen to understand exactly what they do and how I can reimagine it.

We also use eco-friendly materials and incorporate storytelling about sustainability into our design, while celebrating the cultural identity of Vietnam. Vietnam doesn’t yet have a developed fashion industry like Italy, but we do have potential in the form of materials, and I try to explore and develop them. We work with fibres made from trees, coffee and more.

How has Afro Fashion Association helped you evolve as a designer and a brand?

Afro Fashion Association has transformed my dream into a reality, and Michelle Ngonmo has given me opportunities that would have been inaccessible otherwise. She has partnered with me to develop the right strategies for my personal and professional growth. She truly respects talent and is constantly exploring how it can be developed to shine in the spotlight. AFA presents the kind of opportunities that are invaluable for young designers like me in the programme. Without AFA, my career wouldn’t be where it is today.

Paul Roger Tanonkou, Zenam

Paul Roger Tanonkou is a Cameroonian designer and founder of Zenam, a brand that fuses African iconography, Italian craftsmanship and a Parisian flair, shaped by French colonial legacies. His latest collection, Identité Plurielle, explores identity through rich textiles, cultural storytelling and sartorial innovation rooted in his Bamiléké heritage.

What is the mission and vision of your brand?

Zenam — which means “ray of sunshine” in the Bamiléké language — is derived from my African heritage and shaped by my journey in Europe. Our mission is to create fashion that is ethical, inclusive and deeply intercultural, blending African narratives with global perspectives. We believe in beauty that respects people and the planet, which is why sustainability is at the core of our creative process.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur in fashion today?

As a self-taught designer from Africa, one of my first challenges was gaining recognition and legitimacy within an industry that is highly codified and often resistant to those who don’t follow traditional paths. In my early years, I often felt like an outsider who was not qualified enough.

How has Afro Fashion Association helped you evolve as a designer and a brand?

When AFA was created, my brand was already present in the Italian market. However, from a media perspective, I was almost invisible. That’s where AFA played a crucial role. Through its targeted actions and its commitment to developing diverse talents, I was able to take part in major fashion events — both within the official calendar of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and through exclusive private initiatives.

I had the opportunity to tell my story, showcase my work, and demonstrate that “Made in Italy” has no colour, but a wealth of cultural diversity that deserves to be celebrated.

How do you platform and celebrate your heritage through your designs?

My dual identity is at the heart of my creative work. I come from Cameroon, a former French colony, so I carry within me both my African roots and the influence of a French cultural legacy. Most of the textiles used in my collections are inspired by African iconography and are designed by me. Each fabric tells a story. I also collaborate with African artisans who weave fabrics by hand, such as Bogolan, Kente, Faso Dan Fani or Kuba. For me, this is more than a stylistic choice — it’s a way to keep alive a craft that is slowly disappearing. To me, that is true luxury.

Through my work, I aim to show that heritage and innovation can coexist, and that culture, when respected and reimagined, can be timeless.

What advice would you give someone starting a fashion brand today?

Never underestimate the importance of education and training. As a self-taught designer, I realised over time that creativity alone is not enough. You need solid foundations in entrepreneurship, business management, communication and brand strategy to sustain a creative vision in the long run. These are areas I have learned through experience — sometimes the hard way — and I continue to improve every day.

Also, don’t be afraid of failure. Every mistake is a lesson. The most important thing is to keep moving, to keep learning, adapting and dreaming, but always with structure and purpose.

Iniye Tokyo James, Tokyo James

Iniye Tokyo James, founder and creative director of the Tokyo James label, is a British-Nigerian fashion designer renowned for fusing Savile Row-style tailoring with Nigerian heritage. His collections challenge conventional notions of masculinity and African design, and have been worn by Olamidr, Ncuti Gatwa, Burna Boy and Khalid. James was a finalist for the 2022 LVMH Prize.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur in fashion today?

For an industry that prides itself on being forward-thinking, fashion is not nearly as progressive as it should be. The support brands offer to diverse voices is not enough — a shortfall rooted in the politics that permeate the industry.

How has Afro Fashion Association helped you evolve as a designer and a brand?

AFA has helped the brand become more commercial and navigate finding a balance with creativity. It has given us the ability to concentrate on what we love doing — which is designing and creating.

How do you platform and celebrate your heritage through your designs?

As a brand, we talk about what is important to our homeland through symbolism, textures and embroidery — translating these elements into our garments.

We challenge and reframe stereotypes. We aim to decolonise ideologies that are inherently African but have been appropriated by the West and stripped of their original meaning. Challenging masculinity is also central to our approach, because masculinity — as perceived by an African perspective — can differ entirely from how it is understood in the West.

What advice would you give someone starting a fashion brand today?

Get yourself a mentor and have a very good PR. It’s an industry where we feel that only true talent succeeds, but it isn’t. Relationships are equally as important to the success of any brand. As much as you like to believe it’s a meritocracy, you soon realise it isn’t. It’s more about who you know and how you navigate the waters.

Shivin Singh, Absent Findings

Born in Delhi and raised in Dubai, Shivin Singh is a menswear designer now based between Florence and the UAE. A Polimoda graduate, he founded Absent Findings in 2023. His work explores themes of individuality, self-expression and cultural heritage.

What is the mission and vision of your brand?

The name Absent Findings comes from my experiences of finding my true self outside of the path laid out for me. It symbolises being absent from what it is you are “supposed” to be doing, and instead finding what you are destined to do.

Our mission is to create clothing that tells personal stories that resonate universally. For instance, I sometimes use heritage saris — passed down from my mother and grandmother — and then mix them with deadstock fabrics to give them a new lease of life. The pieces are designed to give people the confidence to be their true selves.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur in fashion today?

Since my brand is so young, I think everyone has their own perspective on how I should tell my story. While such advice comes from genuine places, it is sometimes unsolicited. One of the hardest things is turning down the external noise because it can truly tamper with my vision and skew my confidence in what I know is best.

How do you platform and celebrate your heritage through your designs?

For me, heritage is about preserving an emotional connection to the things that shaped me. I work with traditional fabrics and reinterpret them to make them more modern and wearable.

It is also about tapping into my experiences and creating pieces the wearer can truly live in. For example, the first collection for Absent Findings is highly inspired by Le Corbusier’s architecture in Chandigarh, North India. That is where my parents went to university.

What advice would you give someone starting a fashion brand today?

Having a specific voice and vision is the most important thing. You need to know what you are doing and why you are doing it. You shouldn’t pursue a career in fashion just because it seems glamorous or because you want to hang out with the cool kids. Your journey as a designer should begin because you have a unique story — and an urge to tell it.

Papa Oyeyemi, Maxivive

Papa Oyeyemi is a Nigerian fashion designer, creative director and founder of Maxivive, which he launched in Lagos at the age of 15. Renowned for his gender-fluid designs, Oyeyemi champions artisanal African techniques and was featured as an LGBTQIA+ rights activist in HBO’s The Legend of the Underground documentary.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an entrepreneur in fashion today?

Accessing opportunities is one of the biggest challenges. There’s a sense of being systemically excluded from opportunities and conversations. I come from Nigeria, where my sexual orientation is illegal. There will be situations where my name will never be mentioned because of what I stand for. I have stopped talking about so many things because of that.

Moreover, people often don’t make the effort to fully understand the work I create, and as a result, they overlook it. Given that fashion is trends-driven and ephemeral, focusing too long on any one topic that matters to me — without constantly reframing or repackaging — leads to the risk of redundancy. This adds pressure to adapt or simplify the complexity of the messages I am trying to convey.

Then, there are also the complexities of moving to the West and becoming a designer there — where being Black is still an issue.

How has Afro Fashion Association helped you evolve as a designer and a brand?

I feel like I don’t have to fight for visibility alone any longer. Michelle Ngonmo is supportive — and has been since the first day — in helping me do what I do in Europe. This includes providing training in Milan and giving me a platform for my voice to be appreciated.

How do you platform and celebrate your heritage through your designs?

I’m telling stories through my lens in my work. I portray what I see, what I read and who I know through my designs. I make two collections a year. One is based on location, and is often centred on an event that happened in that particular place. The other, which is my artisanal collection, is an exploration of topics and themes — across geography or lived experiences — that are relevant to me.

My heritage goes with me everywhere I go. Even the choice to move one stitch reflects my heritage from ear to ear.

This feature is part of a community partnership with Afro Fashion Association.