Africa's fashion economy is worth $31 billion. It could be worth far more

Africa's fashion is on runways and streaming screens around the world, but the continent still earns only a small share of the global creative economy. Recent reports put figures on how much there is to gain.

The numbers

• Creative economy: about $58–59 billion, under 3% of a global creative industry worth about $2 trillion, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
• Fashion and textiles: about $31 billion a year across the value chain. Design alone is worth about $12 billion.
• Fashion exports: about $4.2 billion in 2022, led by South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, according to figures cited by Ecofin Agency.
• Imports: Africa imports about $23 billion of textiles, clothing and footwear a year and exports about $15.5 billion of textiles, according to UNESCO's 2023 report on African fashion.
• Jobs: fashion and design directly employ about 1.2 million people and support 2.8 million more.

Women run the industry

Women make up more than 60% of Africa's fashion workforce, and more than 80% in Kenya and Madagascar, BCG found. But more than 90% of fashion businesses start with just $300 to $1,000 in capital. Creative businesses got less than 1% of Africa's venture capital in 2024.

The opportunity

BCG estimates that if Africa doubled its share of global creative exports to about 6% by 2030, those exports could reach $150–160 billion a year. It says fashion alone could create up to 400,000 jobs in sub-Saharan Africa. UNESCO counts 32 fashion weeks across the continent and 37 cotton-producing countries. Much of that cotton is exported raw and comes back as imported clothes.

Why it matters

Africa has the raw materials, the designers and one of the world's youngest consumer markets. What holds it back is finance, factories and trade links. Closing those gaps would turn global demand for African style into jobs and export earnings at home.