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| Caterina Bortolussi, Kinabuti founder |
Fashion, entertainment, and business icons converged in Lagos on Saturday,
3rd December at the GREY GOOSE KINABUTI GARDEN PARTY, to mark the first
anniversary of KINABUTI - the ethical fashion label that has been
garnering frenzied media attention recently for its fashion social
responsibility efforts in the ghettoes of Nigeria – discovering talented
young models, designers, and tailors from the ghettoes of the Niger Delta,
and giving them the opportunity to live a better and glamorous life
through life-coaching, skills acquisition and development initiatives -
and afterwards, exposing their skills to an international audience with
the help of “Kinabuti’s Godfather”.
Led by Caterina Bortolussi, an Italian
designer, Kinabuti collaborated with Grey Goose a year ago, to pioneer
this initiative which kicked off with the launch of KINABUTI’s first
collection. And since then, Kinabuti has discovered and trained many young
Nigerian girls, including four super models who now work with established
international designers.
Tonye Cole (co-founder, Sahara Group; brainchild of The Nehemiah Project)
who was one of the special guests at the party, praised Grey Goose for
supporting KINABUTI’s drive, saying “when you undertake a social project
like this, which is reaching out to touch lives – what you need is to be
supported by a global brand like Grey Goose – a brand that can take you
out there and show the world that they care, a brand that is not just
about making sales, but a brand that passionately cares about the kind of
social project that KINABUTI is doing – mixing high fashion with laudable
CSR”
Despite not being a charity organization, profit is not exactly what
drives KINABUTI, according to Francesca Rosset, Kinabuti’s Chief Operating
Officer, “We’re passionate about our CSR, because what we run is an
ethical business model, where we have to make money in order to continue
giving back – to continue discovering and coaching more girls from
impoverished backgrounds”.
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| James Amuta |
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| L-R, Nonso Orizu(Kinabuti Modeling Agency), Tonye Cole (Sahara Group) |
Continuing excitedly, as she explained
Kinabuti’s relationship with Grey Goose Vodka, Francesca Rosset informs
us, “it’s our first anniversary today, we’re one year old in Nigeria…we
started this partnership with Grey Goose a year ago, and it’s been a
wonderful marriage – and that’s why we say to anyone who asks: ‘Grey Goose
is Kinabuti’s Godfather’ – because we make beautiful clothes and they make
the world’s best vodka – and we share the same passion for touching lives,
so it’s a perfect marriage”
“It’s a tough journey that Kinabuti has embarked upon” Tonye Cole said, “I
sometimes refer to Caterina as ‘my daughter’, because I can identify with
her kind spirit and resilience– she started this project from my home
state, Rivers State – for an Italian lady to be this emotional and
passionate about giving back to society, I’ve made it my job to encourage
Kinabuti when they feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead – I
remind them of their blessings – for instance, it’s a good thing they have
Grey Goose as sponsors, because for every talent Kinabuti picks out of
these ghettoes there’s a hundred more waiting…hoping”
The garden party also paraded personalities like Eku Edewor (model, and
presenter of MNET’s 53 Extra) Ego Boyo (iconic actress), Ben Bruce
(Founder, Silverbird Group), Alex Kothoor (MD of GDN Nigeria Ltd); General
Pype (reggae musician); James Amuta (author, Enigma: Beyond the Poet/
filmmaker) and many others who came out to felicitate with Kinabuti on its
graceful first anniversary.
