(AGENPARL) – Tue 07 October 2025 [cid:6cb0be68-782a-4584-a36a-6c1d45a8c10f]
A day to celebrate cotton
Fashion pays tribute to African cotton and designs
[cid:e16473d1-a7cd-4ce1-a59a-b9ec6c38b828] ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano
The bright light filters down from ceiling windows of the elegant belle époque palazzo, recently transformed from a department store into the headquarters of Rome’s fashion institute – Accademia di Costume e Moda.
The whir of sewing machines fills the air in this hive of activity, as the young students gather around workspaces and mannequins, sketching designs, cutting fabrics and transforming their colourful African cotton into stunning fashion creations.
Nigerien fashion designer and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Goodwill Ambassador, Alphadi, passes from table to table, chatting with the students, discussing their mood boards and fashion sketches. He listens to their explanations and offers advice on their draping and vision for their creations, based on his decades’ long experience at the forefront of African fashion and creator of African Fashion Week.
Cotton is one of the most important natural fibres on the market with its wide range of uses. Demand for natural fibres has been expanding in recent years, reflecting a growing trend for sustainability. However, competition from synthetic fibres creates a challenging market environment for the cotton sector.
“I think the importance of being here today as part of the World Cotton Day celebrations is to emphasize the retail side of the cotton sector,” says ElMamoun Amrouk, Senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
While most of the focus on cotton is the end product, Amrouk notes that, “The cotton value chain is quite long. It starts from seeds and producing cotton, picking and the processing side, and the mills and the ginning and turning the cotton into yarns and fabrics into fine fabrics. So there are a lot of activities involved, a lot of technology, a lot of innovation. There’s a lot of knowledge and skills.” For its part, FAO’s primary work with the sector is to support small-scale cotton producers with sustainable practices and to provide market and trade analysis.
World Cotton Day —7 October— originated as a request from African cotton producing countries eager to promote cotton and celebrate it worldwide. The cotton sector employs millions of people worldwide. It is a top industry for some of the poorest countries, attracting export revenues for producers.
Since 2021, FAO and its partners have led these celebrations. This year, as part of the efforts to promote cotton, FAO partnered with the fashion sector, showing how cotton goes from field to fashion, becoming an important sector for the new generation.
Alphadi taught a two-day Masterclass to students currently earning their undergraduate and graduate degrees at the academy. The students researched blending African and Italian fashion traditions.
“These types of cultural exchanges are crucial for growth [in this profession],” conveys Maria di Napoli Rampolla, Head of Industry Relations & Career Development at the academy. “Having the chance to meet and work with Alphadi has been wonderful and an enriching cultural exchange.”
Student Sofia Rapanotti comments, “This is a great initiative, and I’d love to see more of these collaborative opportunities. It allows us to be more open and participative. I think it’s important both for fashion schools and for designers already embarked on their careers.”
Stopping to examine the creations in cottons of bright blue, vibrant red and shimmering earth tones taking shape under his tutelage, Alphadi was in his element He spoke with each pair of students, listening to the intensive research they undertook prior to the class, contributing his own extensive knowledge of African fashion, providing advice and suggestions and fielding their technical questions.
“We want to pay tribute to Africa for its textiles,” said Alphadi, “ranging from bogolan, to the indigo of the fabrics of Burkina Faso, and to raffia and the artisanship of the Congo. I think that for me, this is a way to highlight all that Africa is capable of.”
Seven separate outfits took shape over the course of the two-day class. All of it celebrating African cotton.
“I think, for me, it’s a fitting way to pay tribute to our continent. And also to value the work and to illustrate Africa’s strengths. African cotton is a quality product, and it can be used by people of the Sahel, as well as Europeans, Americans – the whole world.”
If the Masterclass between Alphadi and the students of the Accademia di Costume e Moda is anything to go by, the next generation of designers and stylists are in full agreement.
The story and photos can be found here: https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/a-day-to-celebrate-cotton/en
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