Obroni Wawu October • Celebration of second-hand clothing, kantamanto

Last year, when the first edition of the Obroni Wawu October (OWO) was held at Kantamanto, the country’s biggest second-hand clothes market, it was just a day’s event to celebrate the importance of the market in the fashion space.

This year, however, OWO is back as a festival to celebrate thrifting, reuse, remanufacturing, upcycling and the culture of sustainability with a number of well curated activities before the final event which comes off on Sunday, October 29 at the Rawlings Park in Accra.

The second-hand clothing industry creates a positive impact on the environment due to its recycling efforts and the festival will shed more light on this, while promoting this year’s cohort of upcycle fashion designers based in Kantamanto.

The festival starts with “Foose Friday” on October 26 at the Palm Moments in Asylum Down, Accra.

“Foose” is one of the popular slangs for second-hand clothes in Ghana and guests at the party are to come in their second-hand clothing. The free to attend event opens at 8p.m. and is expected to attract creatives, students, artists, thrift lovers and fashion enthusiasts.

On Saturday, October 28, the Circle Talk hosted by  The Or Foundation in Adabraka, will bring together partners from different parts of the world to discuss issues related to fashion sustainability, the future of the Kantamanto Market and the second-hand clothing business.

According to organisers these discussions will have participants from Chile, Uganda, Kenya, France, USA, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The OWO Day which is the climax of the festival on Sunday, will see up and coming upcycling designers based in Kantamanto show their designs on the OWO runway.

There will also be a talent show, pop up shops featuring curated collections of thrifts from individual sellers and retailers from Kantamanto as well as ‘Oyaadieyies’ available to make alterations.

The Kantamanto-based up cyclers will do live upscaling demonstrations and guests will have the opportunity to purchase from these unique designs.

In a “drip contest”, guests with the most exclusive styles who mount the runway will contest for a cash price of  GH¢2,000.

In an interview with The Mirror, Founder of Obroni Wawu October, Sammy Oteng, said they decided to make OWO an annual event as a result of the feedback from last year’s event.

“We had a large turn out and we had to move the event from the stage to a more open space so more people could participate. The community and leaders of the Kantamanto Clothing Association were impressed that we promoted their trade and impact of what they do in the society,” he said.

He said this year, they decided to have different activations ahead of the main event to extensively discuss issues related to fashion sustainability.

While last year’s show had only two designers, this year, five designers will design pieces from clothes and accessories which would have ended up in dump sites.

Mr Oteng said ahead of the show, the designers are being trained to develop their creative, business and marketing skills.

“None of the designers are formally trained, they are all people who took interest in shopping in Kantamanto and have become designers through alterations and remaking clothes.

We are trying to move these conversations forward beyond the 29th event . Outside of the show, we want to find more collaborators for these designers and do campaigns that will move their businesses forward. Next year, when we have a new cohort, we are hoping that this year’s cohort are able to train them,” he added.

The theme for this year’s event is "The Adeɛyie Resurrection".