Nkanyeziyethu Malunga, a Zimbabwean fashion designer based in Bulawayo, is using traditional African craft techniques, natural dyes and indigenous materials to create contemporary clothing while preserving knowledge passed down through generations.
At her workshop in Bulawayo, Malunga turns plants, tree bark and other materials collected from the environment into colours for fabric. Her approach to fashion begins long before a garment takes shape. It involves understanding where materials come from, how they are harvested and how traditional methods can be adapted for modern design.
Her natural dyes are extracted from plants such as mnyii and hibiscus, alongside other local vegetation, including tubers with suitable dye properties. Hibiscus is among her favourites, both for the colours its petals produce and for its use in tea.
The 37-year-old designer is building her clothing business, GANU, around the idea that African cultural knowledge has a place in contemporary fashion. Her collections combine traditional techniques with modern clothing design, bringing together basketry, crochet, batik and beadwork with natural dyes, leather and locally sourced materials.
Much of her inspiration comes from her late maternal grandmother, Ngatsha Nkatha, who lived in Tsholotsho, a rural district in Zimbabwe. During school holidays, Malunga and her siblings travelled from Bulawayo to visit her. Those visits introduced them to traditional craft practices, particularly the use of sisal, sedge and reeds to make winnowing baskets.
“When I was a child, I often visited my grandmother in the village with my siblings. She was very dexterous with her fingers, and that passion eventually became mutual,” Malunga recalled.
She began experimenting with fashion during her teenage years and established GANU in 2013. The name comes from “iganu”, the Ndebele word for marula fruit, reflecting her connection to indigenous resources and African identity.
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Her work draws on a range of materials and production methods. Bamboo, sisal, reeds and sedge feature in her basketry, while she keeps Angora goats for their fur, which she straightens and dyes for garment production. Cowhide is sourced from local abattoirs and processed at a tannery before being incorporated into leather designs. She also harvests some of her own plant materials and tree bark, while colleagues in rural communities help source other resources.
“I keep Angora goats for the fur needed in garment production. However, for raw materials such as cowhide, I usually source these from local abattoirs while sisal and tree barks are either harvested by me or sometimes extracted by colleagues I work with, who are based in the rural areas,” she explained.
For Desmond Ntini, a cultural entrepreneur based in Bulawayo, Malunga’s work represents an important connection between African cultural identity and contemporary creative industries. He believes her approach demonstrates how traditional influences can inform modern design while creating opportunities for sustainable fashion businesses.
Beyond GANU, Malunga is also working directly with women and communities to bring traditional artistic practices into new settings. In 2024, she founded Matobo Goes Fashion And Beyond, an initiative developed with women from Matobo in partnership with Ekhaya-gaia, My Beautiful Home in Zimbabwe, and the Amagugu International Heritage Centre.
The project takes inspiration from traditional paintings found on the walls of rural homes and translates their patterns into contemporary clothing. These paintings are an important part of local cultural expression, but exposure to rain and other environmental conditions can gradually remove them from buildings. Designs that are not properly recorded risk disappearing with the structures on which they were created.
By reproducing these patterns on fabric, the initiative offers another way to document and share the designs. It also introduces traditional artistic practices to audiences beyond the communities where they originated. Women involved in the project have an opportunity to contribute their knowledge and participate in presenting their cultural heritage through fashion.
The initiative also raises a wider question about how indigenous knowledge is recognised within Zimbabwe’s creative economy. Traditional skills and locally available materials are often treated as separate from the commercial fashion industry, despite their potential to support businesses, employment and cultural preservation.
Figures reported in June 2026 estimated that Zimbabwe’s cultural and creative industries contributed US$2.7 billion to the national economy in 2024, representing 5.92% of gross domestic product. The sector was also estimated to support 22,223 jobs, highlighting the economic significance of creative work beyond established commercial industries.
Dr Florence Sebele, a senior lecturer and acting chair of the Department of Art, Design and Technology Education at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, researches indigenous knowledge in textile technology. She sees Malunga’s work as an example of how traditional African knowledge can challenge established ideas about fashion and innovation.
“By taking indigenous knowledge that has long been undervalued and transforming it into modern fashion, Malunga speaks to our identity, culture and heritage as Zimbabweans and also as Africans,” Sebele said. She added that the work challenges dominant ideas about where fashion innovation originates and demonstrates the wider relevance of African knowledge.
Sebele also believes the approach has potential beyond clothing production, particularly in cultural tourism, academic research and creative enterprise. Documenting indigenous techniques and the knowledge behind them could provide opportunities for further study, while creating ways for communities to benefit from the commercial use of their cultural resources.
For Malunga, preserving that knowledge has also meant learning from people beyond her own family. Her grandmother died before she could pass on all her skills, leaving the designer to seek guidance from other older women who continue to practise traditional crafts.
“My grandmother’s death came early, before I could master everything on the use of indigenous knowledge in creating contemporary fashion. As a result, I have also learned to tap into the wisdom of various elderly women that I have come across since embarking on this journey,” she said.
Her designs have reached audiences outside Zimbabwe. She showcased her work at the Durban Fashion Fair in South Africa in 2016 and received a nomination for Outstanding Fashion Designer at the 2018 Bulawayo Arts Awards. She has also worked with markets in Ghana, Europe and the United States.
In April 2026, she exhibited under the ZimTrade pavilion at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. Through ZimTrade’s SheExports initiative, she has also received support in exploring international markets.
While international exposure offers opportunities to grow her business, Malunga’s work remains closely connected to the people, materials and knowledge behind each creation. The process brings together natural resources, traditional craftsmanship and the skills of rural women, giving cultural practices new applications without removing them from their origins.
For the designer, learning remains an ongoing part of that process. “We learn everyday, we learn as we go, and we learn from everyone,” she reflected.
Her work ultimately places the preservation of Zimbabwean cultural knowledge within a contemporary creative industry, while raising important questions about how traditional skills can be documented, recognised and translated into sustainable opportunities for the communities that keep them alive.
