Life in Design with Foday Dumbuya — fashion designer
Creating his fashion brand, LABRUM London, rooted in the duality of his heritage from Sierra Leone and growing up in London. He spoke to us about the community and sustainability values that are sewn into it and the challenges of building a brand.
This is a transcribed excerpt from our film with Foday.
Why did you create LABRUM London?
The reason why I created LABRUM London is to rebel against those negative connotations about Africa, about immigrants, about people movements. I realized and then I learned so much from the stories that my parents taught me about the culture, the rich culture, the music, the food — this is beautiful, but society make you feel that’s not really beautiful.
So I have these two things: society said this, my parents said this. Which one is legit? So for me, I went the part of my parents which is what guide me to be where I am. And I thought that’s what I wanted to do with LABRUM. I want to tell untold stories about West Africa, about London, about black culture, about British culture. When those two intertwine, what does that look like? What does that feel like?
What are your hopes for the future of LABRUM?
I wanted to leave a legacy where in 50 years or so a kid from London or Africa that looks like me will be able to have a reference point, because sometimes you can’t be what you can’t see. And I wanted to help those kids to be able to do what they want to do, but also believe that it’s possible and anything is possible. That’s why I do what I do, I want to be able to leave that.
And it’s our values about community. It’s about how we bring our community to the forefront of what we do from day one. We tell stories not just about Africa, but also about British culture. Because I grew up here my whole life, so I can’t just tell one one side story because I live here. My life is British, so it’s like those two worlds is where they collide. It’s how we intertwine. That’s why I feel like what we want to do is educating people, bringing a community to life, to the forefront of what we do, and then have a platform that just spotlights excellence. Young, black, British — it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you have the same values, we’ll support you, give you a platform.
And that’s what we do about it. If we don’t have stories, we don’t do a collection because it’s a waste of time.
What is your advice for aspiring fashion designers?
My advice to them is stay true to yourself. Believe in the stories that you want to tell. Make sure you’re knowledgeable about whatever you want to do and work hard. And it’s hard in the business that we’re in, so have a plan and make sure you know how to execute it. Stick with it.
It’s not an industry where you come in, and make it quickly. It’s an industry where you have to build, and build and learn, and build and keep delivering persistently, consistently the same path for people to actually embrace you.
It took me about five years to get to where where I am today and another five years to start being in a place where you feel okay. You have a business because you have employees, you make your money to keep those going. So if you come into the business, just have that thought that it’s not a quick fix. So if you’re looking for a quick fix, then so go find another job.
What role do you think design and designers can take in tackling the climate crisis?
It’s just a lot of education. I think designers need to be mindful of waste and understanding. How can we create a collection to be more sustainable. In a sense, it’s like everyone has to chip in.
But sometimes we have the the more established brand doing something that’s slightly sustainable, but they have the manpower to push that as a story and talk about how sustainable they are. They’ve done this collection but what they’ve failed to realize is they’ve done this sustainable collection where they’ve done 5,000 pieces but they won’t be able to sell 5,000 piece of a garment.
Then you go to smaller brands like us. We develop our own fabric. We only make what we can sell. I think a little bit more education is needed about what’s happening in terms of sustainability and find a way where people don’t just shout about sustainability; they are actually doing it, implementing it. We don’t say we’re sustainable because fashion is not sustainable, but what we are trying to do is to be responsible.