At the Africa Textile Talks in August 2024, Ugandan textile experts Josephine Mukasa and Pamela Kyagera presented barkcloth—an indigenous and renewable Ugandan textile—to an audience of 200 in Cape Town. The designers from Good Good Good were in attendance, and five months later, at Paris Fashion Week, they showcased a look made from Mekeka Designs’ Lubugo Obutono cloth—a woven, rain-fed cotton textile with strips of rust-coloured barkcloth running through it—as part of their AW25 Sprouts Collection.
A detail of the Lubugo Obutono cotton and barkcloth garment that was exhibited in Paris as part of Good Good Good’s AW25 Sprouts Collection. The cloth was made by Mekeka Designs in Uganda. Image: Sandra Nagel
Pamela and Josephine, who both work with Mekeka Designs, a bespoke textile studio in Uganda, explained that barkcloth is made from the bark of the Mutuba tree (Ficus natalensis), a species that has supported the economic, environmental, and cultural heritage of communities for over 700 years.
Discussing the regenerative and sustainable qualities of the cloth, Pamela says: “You don’t have to cut down the tree to harvest the cloth. The bark is sourced once a year, but the tree can continue producing for another 60 to 80 years. You only strip off part of the bark, which then regrows. The process of obtaining barkcloth is labour-intensive, but it does not require electricity, gas, or any artificial dyes.”
“Everything remains in its natural state,” she says.
Good Good Good’s Josquin du Toit says, “Before placing our final order, we twice visited Twyg’s office to feel the fabric again for reassurance. Twyg’s archive of African textiles was an invaluable resource for viewing a material that would otherwise have been largely inaccessible to us.”
Good Good Good incorporated the barkcloth into its Cropped Collared Jacket and Balloon Trousers. “As these are sustainable, everyday silhouettes in our core collection—pieces we see ourselves producing for the next decade—we wanted to reimagine them with new and exciting textiles from the African continent every season. We also created a headpiece to accompany the look,” says Josquin.
Barkcloth is a renewable material, harvested from the Ugandan Mutuba tree annually for up to 80 years with no impact on its lifespan. Photo by Luke Kuisis
Since its establishment in 2016, Good Good Good, led by founder Daniel Sher, has been committed to sharing unique and inspiring African textile and design stories. The brand naturally gravitated toward barkcloth, an extraordinary African textile. The bark is stripped from the trees and flattened with a mallet to triple its surface area. It is then naturally dyed through sun exposure and clay pits, achieving hues that range from reds and browns to deep black. For the Lubugo Obutono cloth, this barkcloth is woven into 100% rain-fed cotton, predominantly sourced from Western Uganda, before being processed, spun, and woven on a counterbalance floor loom in Kampala.
Watch how barkcloth is harvested and then made
This is not the first time Good Good Good has highlighted African textile design. In Paris, the Lubugo Obutono garments were presented alongside pieces made from Mungo’s homeware textiles, Baule cloth sourced from Côte d’Ivoire, and their Strip-Stripe Capsule, which incorporates innovative solutions to reduce waste from their cotton single-jersey and fleece offcuts—developed in their 30-year-old heritage manufacturing facility in Woodstock, Cape Town.
Visitors from around the world at Good Good Good’s Paris showroom were astonished to see and feel strips of bark in the Lubugo Obutono garments. “We loved sharing the story of the cloth and the artisans behind it. We look forward to working with Mekeka Designs again and returning to Paris in June 2025 and beyond to continue telling stories of African textile design and production,” says Josquin.
Good Good Good showed the Mekeka Designs collabration at their Paris Showroom at 127 Rue De Turenne, 75003, with Incubator by Impossible Objects. Photo: Sandra Nagel
Lesli Robertson from Mekeka Designs introduced Good Good Good to Kinset, an Irish company specialising in Digital Product Passports (DPPs). “We worked with the [Kinset] team to create a DPP for our Lubugo Obutono cloth set, which we printed onto wash care labels as a QR code sewn inside each garment. The DPP provides customers with accessible information about the garment—its origin and the artisans who made it.” says Josquin.
Lesli adds, “Good Good Good shares the same principles as we do regarding traceability and sustainability. All our conversations have centred on the importance of transparency in production. We definitely want to collaborate again.”
Mekeka Designs creates bedspreads, pillows, floor rugs, throws, table runners, placemats, wardrobe panel finishing, and large-scale interior installations for ceilings and living spaces—using indigenous fibres for both African and international markets.
Good Good Good’s Josquin du Toit, Daniel Sher and Erin Goodale in Paris. Photo: Sandra Nagel
Josquin du Toit and Erin Goodale inspect fabrics, and the Mekeka Designs installation of their home decor and fabrics at Africa Textile Talks 2024
- Images of Good Good Good in Paris by Sandra Nagel
- Editorial fashion images: @lukekuisis | Styling and art direction by @chloeandreawelgemoed | Assisted by @jmdejager_ | Makeup by @saskiabuxton | Model @dustybarryblancochucks
- Images from Africa Textile Talks 2024 by The Dollie House
- Save the dates for Africa Textile Talks 2025: 28 July – 1 August 2025 in Cape Town
- Read more about Mekeka Designs here
- Visit Good Good Good here
