THE BRAND

African fabric. Made by Africans. In Africa. For the world.

It started the way most good things do — with a feeling.

We were in our third year at Stellenbosch University when we first noticed them. Kikoy sarongs, everywhere. Light, honest cotton with an ease to it that nothing else quite matched. Unmistakably African. And we kept asking ourselves the same question: why was nobody making this into clothing?

So in 2018, we did.

The fabric has been here far longer than we have

Kikoy is woven by hand on Kenyan looms, from organic 100% cotton, in the same way it has been for generations. On the East African coast it has always been a wrap, a towel, a throw, a blanket when the evening turns. Fishermen wore it. Traders carried it. Nobody had to invent it — it was already perfect.

What we did was cut it differently. Into shorts. Into trousers. Into skirts and shirts and things you can wear to dinner.

And here is the part people don't expect: it gets better. Kikoy softens every single time you wash it. The piece you buy today is the worst it will ever feel. Three summers from now it will be the thing you reach for first.

Nothing leaves the continent unfinished

The cotton is grown and woven in Kenya. Every garment is then cut and sewn in Cape Town, by hand, by a team we know by name. From loom to finished piece, it is made in Africa, by Africans, start to end.

That matters to us for a simple reason. Plenty of brands take African fabric and finish it somewhere cheaper. We think the people who make the cloth should get to make the clothes.

From Cape Town to three continents

What began on a university campus is now carried by more than 30 South African stockists and worn on three continents. You'll find us in our flagship store in Green Point, at the V&A Watershed, in Ballito and in Morningside, Durban — and, through this site, very nearly anywhere else.

The easiest gift you'll ever give

Here is what we've learned from shipping KOIKOI around the world: everyone wants a piece of Africa.

Not a souvenir. Not something carved for tourists. Something real, beautifully made, that they will actually wear — and that carries a story worth repeating when someone asks where it's from.

A kikoy sarong folds flat into any suitcase and works as a beach wrap, a throw or a blanket. A pair of shorts arrives soft and only improves. And if you're not sure of the colourway, an e-gift card lets them choose their own piece of the continent.

What we stand by

  • 100% organic cotton — handwoven in Kenya
  • Cut and sewn in Cape Town — never offshored
  • 30+ South African stockists
  • Stocked on 3 continents
  • Free worldwide shipping

Supremely relaxed. Deeply comfortable. Authentically African.