Pokomo connection: Italian tailoring meets African creativity at Eco Fashion Week

At the center of the collection is an ongoing partnership with 20 women artisans from the Pokomo community, who supplied handcrafted raffia elements incorporated directly into modern resort silhouettes.

Founded by Italian designer Guia Martinotti, an industry veteran with more than two decades of luxury experience at fashion houses including Prada and Tom Ford, NOORTRIBE manufactures its garments in Kenya.

Highlights included a tailored Kitenge jacket featuring Italian-style peaked lapels, styled with reconstructed denim and raffia accents.

The presentation also featured white balloon trousers constructed from refurbished mosquito netting paired with a pearl top, an experimental denim dress reinforced with repurposed tire inner tubes, and an embellished denim top that required three weeks of continuous hand-beading.

Fluid eveningwear, including silk cady kaftans, Swarovski-accented bustiers, and sheer embroidered dresses, carried individually attached Pokomo raffia fringe and handcrafted macramé.

The economic model behind the collection centers on direct financial compensation for indigenous craft.

NOORTRIBE compensates the Pokomo artisans per finished piece, establishing structured income streams intended to keep regional weaving practices commercially viable.

Martinotti addressed the runway’s underlying focus on circular design and economic inclusion, noting that raw Pokomo raffia carries generations of cultural knowledge that must yield tangible economic returns to survive.

The event concluded Eco Fashion Week Africa’s showcase of material reinterpretation, with NOORTRIBE positioning the integration of African craftsmanship and classical tailoring as a repeatable standard for luxury garment construction.