Our Story
Kampala Fair is a Ugandan fair trade business, working towards accreditation by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), and our belief is in the power of providing high quality work rather than charity.
Founder & Creative Director Mette Islandi came to Uganda from Denmark in 2007 and was shocked at the poor education and life prospects available to many women. She started Kampala Fair as a way to provide real jobs that would give people decent working conditions, skills, a sense of pride in their work and the ability to give themselves and their families a secure future. She teamed up with, Ssanyu Kalibbala, co-owner & Operations Director who joined Kampala Fair to ensure that their ethical fashion business model grows beyond Uganda and East Africa.
Kampala Fair is a brand for whom color is everything. Our trademark is the use of African Print Fabric in our pieces, and we focus on cuts and designs that are for real women.
Focusing on style rather than trends, Kampala Fair embraces ‘slow African fashion’. Keeping a more sustainable approach to the current global tendency of a more ‘disposable fashion’, which often carries ecological repercussions and unethical business practices.
Our Mission
Our mission is to grow a thriving socially responsible business that provides life- changing work for families in Uganda.
Our Work
Kampala Fair is a small ethical fashion label based in Uganda, East Africa, design¬ing and producing high quality apparel and home décor.
Our Promise
For our customers — quality and variety
Kampala Fair works with over 300 different African Prints each year, and we hand select bolts of this traditional wax-printed cotton from Kampala textile markets. We have a strong eye for good colour combinations, and each of our designs is produced as a limited edition – so our collections are as varied and unique as our customers.
We manage all production from washing fabric to dispatching the finished clothes, so we can guarantee high quality and longevity in all our pieces. We can’t currently trace our fabrics, but we use no chemicals apart from the domes¬tic washing powder, the minimum amount of water and use all fabric remnants in our homewares products.
For our staff — quality and security
There is no social protection in Uganda, so work is the only means out of pov-erty. Kampala Fair’s focus is on social impact through providing high quality work; we currently employ 13 staff, who between them support 42 children through school. To us, high quality means we pay good salaries* and pension contributions, provide pleasant and safe working conditions, training and addi-tional benefits (eg loans for health needs, land purchase) to our staff.
You will get so many complements when you wear your Kampala Fair piece, and it’s easy to help us spread the word: like us on Facebook and Instagram, share our website, tell your friends about us…
Together we can make the world a brighter place.
