KAMPALA FAIR

Kampala Fair is a fair trade business based in Kampala, Uganda. The business is founded by Mette Islandi and Ssanyu Kalibbala. Mette is originally from Denmark and now lives in Zimbabwe. Ssanyu is Ugandan living in Uganda.

The mission of Kampala Fair is to create sustainable incomes by providing employment opportunities to local communities. Kampala Fair's philosophy is to create real jobs that give people decent working conditions, skills and a sense of pride in their work to ensure they give themselves and their families a secure future.

Kampala Fair now has its own shop in Kampala, exports to East Africa and Europe - and employs 9 women and 5 men, who between them are sending 42 children to school and thus investing in their futures.

At Kampala Fair, the creative process starts by selecting the fabric.

All fabric is bought from the local fabric market in Kampala to support the local trade. The creative director hand-selects each fabric ensuring the best quality. All fabrics are 100% cotton. The fabrics are pre-washed before use to ensure they are the best quality and that the color does not bleed. The fabric is then ironed, recorded and stored in the fabric room. Other materials such as zippers, thread, etc. are also all sourced locally.

The creative director selects all dress patterns and supervises production. The tailors do their own cutting and sewing with some help from a tailor's assistant. The workshop production manager manages the production plan from end to end and does the first quality check. The second quality check is done by the shop manager on receipt of new stock.

Each item is thoroughly inspected and must conform to all quality measures before it is accepted for sale.