COVER FEATURE
sharing the love INNOVATIVE FASHION ENTREPRENEUR KENYA ROBERSON TAKES HIGH-BRAND OVERRUNS AND REDISTRIBUTES THEM TO NEW MARKETS, PICKING UP WASTEFUL SLACK IN THE PROCESS. BY NIGEL SIMMONDS
“I HAD a taste for fashion at a young age,” says entrepreneur Kenya
basis. My job is to lessen those statistics by creating a second and
Roberson, who today runs a fashion export company moving up
third life for textiles and garments.”
to half a million fashion items a month. “But it’s not as simple as it sounds.”
Her business melds two parts of her personality, one earned from a young age. “I was brought up by my grandmother as one of five
Kenya’s company Elite Garment Distro aims to bridge a yawning
girls and two adopted boys,” she says. “My grandmother was an
gap in the fashion markets by redistributing excess inventory
elementary school teacher by day, and she worked hard to instill
for some of the world’s biggest brands. “Our goal is to create less
good values within us while also setting an example of what it
textile waste on the planet by upcycling and creating a second and
means to be a strong and independent woman. I would not be who
third life for garments,” she says.
I am today without her example.”
It’s not just a redistribution of fashion items, she adds, but of
Her other passion is business. “I was previously in the fashion
wealth itself. “My clients consist of wholesalers, boutiques, and
Industry working for Herve Leger and freelance modeling. I
discount outlet stores from all countries in the world. We are
worked for a wholesale company which taught me some of the
typically supplying impoverished countries with designer apparel
tools I needed to understand the wholesale and export side of the
they could not otherwise afford.”
business. There was a eureka moment when I realized I could merge the two together and create what Elite Garment Distro is
Upcycling is one of the most important services companies
today.”
like Elite Garment Distro provide to the planet, says Kenya. “In
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America alone, an estimated 11.3 million tons of textile waste –
Now that company embodies values crucial to doing business in
equivalent to 85% of all textiles – ends up in landfills on a yearly
the new world. “My stock is sourced from the USA and Europe. We
