“Lux­u­ry is rel­a­tive. There is no lux­u­ry with­out sus­tain­abil­i­ty.” — David Boye-Doe.

Found­ed in 2020, Boye­doe embod­ies a grow­ing move­ment in African fash­ion. The brand seeks to hon­or tra­di­tion, pro­tect the envi­ron­ment, and inspire audi­ences world­wide. In recent years, sus­tain­able fash­ion has gained inter­na­tion­al atten­tion. Design­ers and con­sumers are look­ing for more eco-friend­ly ways to cre­ate and enjoy fash­ion. In this arti­cle, VISION MODE takes a jour­ney across the African con­ti­nent to Ghana, a land where import­ed tex­tile waste and fast fash­ion left­overs have had a pro­found impact on the local envi­ron­ment.

From Stylist to Visionary

David Boye-Doe’s for­mal train­ing at JACCD Design Insti­tute Africa was a real mile­stone in his life. His hard work and unique style earned him recog­ni­tion as the Most Out­stand­ing and Most Cre­ative Stu­dent upon grad­u­at­ing in 2019. This dis­tinc­tion marked the begin­ning of a career soon high­light­ed by achieve­ments and acco­lades.

Deter­mined to make a dif­fer­ence in the fash­ion indus­try, he launched Boye­doe in Jan­u­ary 2020. The brand quick­ly gained atten­tion, not only for its beau­ti­ful pieces but also for its com­mit­ment to envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­i­ty. He became one of the Top 30 next-gen African cre­atives and vision­ar­ies by TRACE and @John­nieWalk­er­Africa in 2023.

Because David Boye-Doe is not the type to rest on his achieve­ments and thanks to his relent­less work eth­ic, he was named a final­ist for the inau­gur­al ARISE 30 Under 30 New Stars. It is known as a pres­ti­gious award that cel­e­brates emerg­ing African tal­ents. He was also rec­og­nized as the First Run­ner-Up for the Accra Mall Future Fash­ion Fund, solid­i­fy­ing his rep­u­ta­tion as one of Ghana’s most promis­ing young design­ers.

Boyedoe: a Brand Rooted in African Heritage

Described as a “quin­tes­sen­tial African brand,” Boye­doe cel­e­brates Ghana’s rich cul­ture by cre­ative­ly blend­ing tra­di­tion­al pat­terns, col­ors, and fab­rics with a mod­ern and sus­tain­able approach. Inspired by the myth­i­cal Sanko­fa bird, which looks to the past to forge the future, Boye­doe set out to be a social­ly respon­si­ble and envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious brand that envi­sions a new Africa.

“A bold, brave, and beau­ti­ful Africa, defined by its cul­ture, folk­lore, col­ors, tex­tures and eclec­tic pat­terns.”

Through the use of upcy­cled mate­ri­als, each piece tells a unique sto­ry. All of them hon­or African her­itage by breath­ing new life into old mate­ri­als. More­over, each cre­ation pre­serves the arti­sanal tech­niques that define the continent’s crafts­man­ship. Among Boye­doe’s stand­out is the hand­wo­ven smock from north­ern Ghana, known as the brand’s “dia­mond in the crown.” Sourced from eth­i­cal pro­duc­ers, this piece embod­ies cul­tur­al her­itage and stands as a sym­bol of lux­u­ry and pres­tige. In a world where glob­al lux­u­ry brands are increas­ing­ly cap­ti­vat­ed by Africa’s orig­i­nal­i­ty and authen­tic­i­ty, Boye­doe exem­pli­fies how African crafts­man­ship influ­ences glob­al trends and rede­fines the true essence of lux­u­ry.

Boyedoe and Upcycling: A New Chapter for African Fashion

Understanding upcycling

Upcy­cling is gain­ing atten­tion, but what does it real­ly mean? You might even won­der, “How is it dif­fer­ent from recy­cling?” Let’s set the record straight.

Recy­cling breaks down mate­ri­als to cre­ate some­thing entire­ly new. On the oth­er hand, upcy­cling pre­serves the orig­i­nal item, cre­ative­ly enhanc­ing its val­ue with­out dis­man­tling it. It’s a way to trans­form waste into valu­able prod­ucts, repur­pos­ing dis­card­ed mate­ri­als into some­thing mean­ing­ful.

Now that we’ve cov­ered the basics, let’s look at why upcy­cling is so sig­nif­i­cant in Ghana.

The relevance of upcycling in Ghana

Accra, the cap­i­tal city of Ghana, has become a major hub for import­ed sec­ond­hand cloth­ing from around the world. Through upcy­cling, Boye­doe cre­ates pieces that nar­rate a sto­ry of renew­al and cul­tur­al pride. The brand reduces the demand for new raw mate­ri­als, con­serv­ing water, ener­gy, and oth­er essen­tial resources. In Ghana, where resources like water are invalu­able and some­times scarce, upcy­cling helps ease the envi­ron­men­tal impact of tex­tile pro­duc­tion. Boye­doe address­es this chal­lenge direct­ly, blend­ing sus­tain­able prac­tices with the vivid aes­thet­ics of Ghana­ian cul­ture.

Denim as a staple

“I felt the need for Afro-lux­u­ri­ous cloth­ing with a con­science. I believe the only way we can pre­serve the continent’s her­itage, cre­ativ­i­ty, and future is by doing our part as a brand to repur­pose as many sec­ond­hand clothes as pos­si­ble,” says David Boye-Doe.

Den­im has become a cor­ner­stone of the brand’s jour­ney. Its ver­sa­til­i­ty, dura­bil­i­ty, and time­less­ness make it an ide­al mate­r­i­al in the ever-chang­ing world of fash­ion. Giv­en the waste and pol­lu­tion asso­ci­at­ed with den­im pro­duc­tion, Boye­doe is com­mit­ted to sourc­ing dis­card­ed sec­ond­hand cloth­ing and dead stock, upscal­ing them into desir­able gar­ments.

What’s next for Boyedoe ?

“I see upcy­cling as the future of lux­u­ry, because fash­ion is art, and art becomes more cher­ished with time. ” – David Boye-Doe.

Look­ing ahead, the pri­ma­ry goal is to expand the brand’s reach while remain­ing true to its core val­ues: Sum­sum (Spir­it), Sil­hou­ette, Sophis­ti­ca­tion, African Lux­u­ry, and Eth­i­cal Ele­gance. David Boye-Doe believes that col­lab­o­ra­tion fos­ters com­mu­ni­ty, which is why he aims to work with sus­tain­abil­i­ty-focused orga­ni­za­tions and explore new ways to reduce waste and enhance effi­cien­cy. As the brand grows inter­na­tion­al­ly, its long-term goal is to enter new mar­kets while uphold­ing respon­si­ble pro­duc­tion prac­tices and reduc­ing its car­bon foot­print.

More­over, Boye­doe is ded­i­cat­ed to pro­mot­ing sus­tain­able edu­ca­tion and train­ing through ini­tia­tives like gar­ment recy­cling and upcy­cling pro­grams.

In the mean­time, the brand already cel­e­brates sev­er­al mile­stones, with recent high­lights, includ­ing its par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Tra­noï Trade Show at Paris Fash­ion Week and Lagos Fash­ion Week.