Cut from a different cloth: Somalia’s young fashion designers

Despite a challenging environment and sometimes conservative cultural barriers, these young Somalis being empowered in the fashion industry.

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byAbdulateef Ahmed

September 7, 2025

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 4, 2018 Muna Mohamed Abdullahi, 24 year-old, owner of Mkena Designs, draws her new creations on a wall at her home in Modadishu, Somalia. - Somalia's clothes business is a simple one: foreign imported garments for the well-to-do, locally tailored clothes for the rest. But new fashion designers are complicating that picture with locally-designed, hand-made attire. (Photo by Abdi HAJJI HUSSEIN / AFP)

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Abdulateef Ahmed

Abdulateef Ahmed, Digital News Editor and; Research Lead, is a self-driven researcher with exceptional editorial skills. He's a literary bon vivant keenly interested in green energy, food systems, mining, macroeconomics, big data, African political economy, and aviation..