My African adventure….

Karibu means welcome in Kiswahili, it’s a word I have heard a lot since I arrived in Kenya last week. My name’s Jennifer and this is my African adventure.

For the last 3 years I have worked for fashion etailer ASOS.com. I began working on kidswear and then moved over to womenswear where I worked across 3 departments; coats, knitwear and ASOS Africa.

I’m an avid blogger, using my blog as my very public online diary for all the things I fall in love with, mainly fashion related (www.lovegettingdressed.com), I also write for other blogs (www.leblow.co.uk) and run my own vintage clothing boutique on ASOS marketplace.

Whilst I was on the ASOS Africa team I had the privilege of working with Jo, founder and director of SOKO as SOKO produced all the collections. When I finally decided to take the plunge and leave my job to start my own brand, Jo was one of the first people I contacted. I wanted the chance to come over to Kenya and see the work done here at SOKO to find out if it would be the right place to produce my own collection and also to see the real impact of ethical fashion rather than just reading about it in the Guardian.

I was meant to come over for a few weeks but its ended up being a little bit longer, ok a lot longer, 2 months, but I’m so glad as there is so much to do, see and learn here. It doesn’t hurt that there are also gorgeous beaches!

Right now I am soaking up all I can and taking inspiration from the artisan skills, culture and traditions of Kenya. I will be blogging for SOKO over the following weeks so I will keep you updated on my African adventure and the road leading to the creation of my very own collection.