Trendy Africa: Austrian fabrics - The West African Heritage

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Austrian Fabrics: the West African Heritage
by tosan on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

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AUSTRIA - For more than 40 years Austrian embroideries represent the highest quality level of
African clothing tradition. These premium textiles are fixed to people who are wearing
embroideries as a symbol and metaphor. A tight business relationship between West African
customers and Austrian manufacturing companies assure innovative and qualitative products
as well as modern design developments.

To intensify the knowledge about the West African market/customers two Austrian fashion
experts made a comprehensive investigation and accomplished a research study about the
West African embroidery market. Silke Jurkowitsch and Alexander Sarlay are impressed by the
always well dressed West African people and the deep-rooted clothing tradition. “Cloths are a
mirrow of the person, cloths show the spirit of the people”, they say. The project is dedicated
to all people who cultivate a clothing tradition and who take care about their clothing style.

The motivation for this project is based on learning from history of more than 500 years of
trading with textiles between West Africa and Europe. Still today, there are the same factors
and mechanisms used for doing business. New things are as well absorbed instantly and
transformed into the existing tradition. Also fashion is a typical western phenomenon; the
things which are counting in the African world are the traditional ones.

http://trendyafrica.com/2009/03/18/austrian-fabrics-the-west-african-heritage/ 19.03.2009


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Traditional clothing still is a symbol of status, reputation, wealth, etc. Furthermore money for
high qualitative and valuable products is still available. The product itself must be developed,
marketed and sold in a 100% true-package to the customer. Therefore, copied, cheap, low
quality and second-hand textiles are only a way to be “decorated” in the correct cultural way
even for people with little money. One of the only existing USPs of Europe is the richness of



creativity and the close relationship to African customers. In this project, creativity is the main
driver for staying in front of the competitors in the high-end African embroidery market.

The project objectives therefore are the exploration of the niche for Austrian embroideries, to
recognize the key factors of designing embroideries for different African cultures and to identify
the key factors for trading in West Africa.

The methodology is divided into three levels: Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow. The “Yesterday”
part is developed based on existing literature in the fields of ethnography, cultural aspects,
religion, art, strategy and marketing. This is followed by the “Today” part, which is a
concentration on the actual situation in Africa, Europe, Asia and Near Middle East done in a
qualitative way (e.g. observation, interviews, and photo documentation) directly in West Africa.
Finally, the “Tomorrow” part consists of the combination of specific challenges for the Austrian
embroideries in West Africa as well as international best practices which lead to a positioning
for the Austrian embroideries and thereof important project propositions.

This project can contribute to new knowledge by developing a research model in the future for
specific high-end products in Africa. The conclusions derived from this model could be the
recognizing of the importance of the eye-level, the awareness of the customers´ background in
nation, religion, tradition, and the usage of the customers language to market the niche of the
product successfully with different marketing activities.

by Silke Jurkowitsch, Alexander Sarlay

About the Authors
Silke Jurkowitsch and Alexander Sarlay were born in the western part of Austria: They grew up
with a long fashion tradition in their living area and have a wide ranged experience working
together with textiles, decorative and crystal components. Their know-how about textile and
crystal business opens new innovation projects in every industry. A main focus is on
opportunities and chances in different parts of Africa. Today they live as real cosmopolitans,
most of the time they are travelling between Africa, Middle East and Asia. Their alliance
combines cross-cultural creativity, leading global business networks in different branches and
professional Project Management.

Contact
Sarlay & Jurkowitsch Consulting

Silke Jurkowitsch: silke@sj-c.cc
Mobile: +43 660 3111 550

Alexander Sarlay: alex@sj-c.cc
Mobile: +43 660 111 2001

6094 Axams
Austria

www.sj-c.cc

Tags: Tosan Aduayi

Filed under: Fashion

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