Former Wando student Caroline Howard takes pictures of the Francis and Benedict models on Sept. 28.
Kat Kollegger // all photos
Francis and Benedict Lowcountry charity creates clothing line to benefit African seamstresses Russell Glass co-web editor
It all started with a dream that she couldn’t stop having, night, after night, after night. “I could see the skirts, I could see the ads, I could actually see some the pictures we’ve taken, and I could see all different kinds of women, young women, old women, white women, African American women, and they were wearing these skirts together,” said Katie Walters, the founder of Francis + Benedict. Walters, who lives in Mt. Pleasant, founded Francis + Benedict, a non-profit wax print clothing line to benefit the poor and impoverished, after a mission trip to Togo in West Africa. The initial idea first came to her when she had a series of dreams following her return to the U.S. “I didn’t stop having these dreams for like five nights, so I started talking to some people around me like ‘do you know if this
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is a thing?’ and I’ve never done anything in business before and they were like ‘yes, there’s a market for this,’” Walters said. Walters’ then got in touch with Francis and Benedict Ayovi, a missionary couple she had met while in Togo. “So I [emailed them] to ask if they would pray about partnering with me,” said Walters. “And Francis happened to be in Orlando at the end of the week, so I drove down to Orlando one day, like six hours, and basically presented him with the idea of this company that would sell skirts here and the profits would go back to benefit Togo and the ministry they’re doing there.” In Togo, the business currently employs nine seamstresses, all of whom are impoverished, and are either widows or the sole providers for their family. Francis + Benedict gives them employment as skilled seamstresses, helps them set financial and life goals and provides free food for them and their children -- all while co-founder Benedict Ayovi mentors them. Walters and her team are hands on and take time to personally get to know each seamstress employed by Francis + Benedict. “We sat down with [the seamstresses] one on one and let them tell their stories,” said Caroline Howard, the organization’s photographer. “and we were able to take beautiful portraits of them to show people that when they buy a skirt this is who they’re employing.”
The organization has been successful in its first year, shipping to the U.S., Canada and Australia, and has released four collections, each of which has been named after one of the seamstresses who helped to create them. “As our online following has increased, we’ve been selling consistently to about 20 percent of our market reach, which is really good by industry standards,” Walters said. “Our job now is increasing our market reach, we’ve grown from zero to 5,000 in our first year, which has been incredible. But we would love by the end of next year to be at 50,000.” Doing this is left to the U.S. team in Mount Pleasant. “There’s actually fourteen women in the U.S. that work on this team and we all volunteer so nobody in the U.S. is paid. And that has been the reason we’ve been able to really be successful,” Walters said. All Francis + Benedict skirts, including the new Ayékinam collection can be bought at www.francisandbenedict.com with new collections available every season. Walters said she never wanted to have a clothing line or run her own business, but started Francis + Benedict because of her love for the people of Togo and a desire to give back to them and get the seamstresses the profits they deserve. And because of the efforts of her and her team, they do every day.