Threads style: Iyakaremye knits beautiful made in Rwanda clothes

By Elias Hakizimana.

Made in Rwanda fashion is making a radical step in various forms apart from Kitenge, leather and banana fibres. Cocoon styles is another kind of fashion many people will need to wear following the beauty are made with, and they are being produced in Rwanda.

Francine Iyakaremye, is a Rwandese who ventured into this business of cocoon fashion textile. The entrepreneur has an enterprise dubbed “Tricoterie Gloria in Kimisagara sector, Nyarugenge District.

Since she started operating in the field in 2011, she is producing various kinds of clothes from cocoons such as pullovers for students in nursery, primary and secondary schools. “We produce all styles for all people; students, children and mature. We do also produce carpets from cocoons,” said Ikakaremye.

Iyakaremye says she started this kind of business after realizing that cocoon clothes are needed in the country of Rwanda and she wanted to create jobs.

Before starting clothes production, Iyakaremye was a government employee and she used the final salary fees to begin textile business.

“I started with one machine that weaves clothes. The startup I used is from my job terminal contract fees that enabled me to buy a machine worth Rwf200,000. Today with six machines and seven employees, my enterprise can produce more clothes,” she said.

Markets

Due to low capacity of production, Iyakaremye said they produce six clothes per day and her main clients are nursery, primary and secondary schools and the general population.

Her enterprise buys cocoons as the raw materials from traders in the town but she plans to import more varieties of cocoons from Kenya and China when they get enough financial capacity.

Iyakaremye says the challenge is the machines that have not capacity to produce many clothes and it causes the delay of clients’ command.

However, she has a vision of having a factory that will be producing enough cocoon clothes with quality. “I need to look on markets from countries with huge humidity as cocoon clothes have heat,” she noted.