Industrie Africa, arguably Africa’s leading retail fashion company, is shutting down after five years.
However, it will transition into a fashion advisory firm, Industrie Africa Plus (IA+), that will collaborate with luxury hotels, cultural institutions and premium retail hubs to showcase fashion from the continent in new physical locations such as concept stores, retail activations, and pop-ups.
The shutdown follows cross-border logistics issues, inconsistent tariff policies, and market volatility.
The company noted that US tariffs, in particular, hit African fashion brands, including those in South Africa, Algeria, and Madagascar, which have built a loyal fan base in the US.
“The US was a key market and accounted for approximately 80 percent of sales. Tariffs heavily impacted our business,” said Industrie Africa founder, Nishi Kanabar. This meant that US consumers had to pay duties on their purchases, which they were not used to paying.
“We saw an overnight shift in how the customer was shopping. Until that point, we were under the impression that we were on a really positive trajectory.”
Kanabar also pointed to issues around the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The act which provides duty-free access to US consumers had its challenges. These include differences in compliance capacity and origin-rule complexities, as well as the act’s periodic renewals, which created an atmosphere of uncertainty that complicated long-term pricing and fulfilment strategies for exporters.
“For African brands selling into the US market, this volatility, compounded by fluctuating freight rates and currency exposure, meant that the constraint was rarely demand or creativity, but execution on a large scale.
Established in 2018, Industrie Africa quickly became the go-to fashion retailer for global consumers eager to discover high-end African fashion brands. It stocked leading brands like Nigeria’s Lisa Folawiyo, Ghana’s Christie Brown, and Senegal’s Tongoro, and shipped to nearly 60 countries worldwide.
The goal was to create a platform that rivalled the industry leaders of the time, such as Net-a-Porter and Farfetch, while offering a curated selection of African designers and helping them gain a global footing.
“Success for me was responding to the market and filling gaps that needed to be filled,” said Kanabar.
At the time of the launch, demand for African fashion was growing. Still, access to brands remained limited, with only a handful of designers shipping internationally or having wholesale partners abroad.
Despite having to shut down today, Kanabar said, “I do feel like I achieved what I wanted to achieve in that we created a model that we can learn from.”
She is now going to apply all that she learned to Industrie Africa Plus IA+, which she said will continue to spotlight and champion African fashion, while advising and collaborating with industry leaders in the hospitality and retail sector in Africa and beyond.
The aim is to bring fashion from the continent into physical spaces through concept stores, pop-ups, and installations, allowing a broader audience to shop African brands in person.
“The seven years of knowledge in this industry are going to contribute to the advisory model that we’re proud of,” says Kanabar.
Credit: Leadership
