PALMWINE IceCREAM (PWIC) was founded by Kusi Kubi, who carved a path towards design via fashion PR then styling. A 2018 visit to his Ghana homeland sparked a process of bringing local goods back to family in London. PWIC came to life the following year, with Kubi sourcing clothes and materials from Accra’s Kantamanto Market and reimagining them as one off genderless pieces which sit halfway between casualwear and regal garb.
Gold is used generously, as part of a nod to Kubi’s family roots in the Ashanti region, a place rich with the precious metal. Leather trousers are punctured with gold eyelets, knee high boots are embroidered with golden thread, and t-shirts are layered with chunky modern-day chainmail. “PALMWINE IceCREAM is a blend of tastes and feelings, which are not necessarily meant to be combined, but once brought together exude a sense that is new and unfamiliar,” Kubi told Dazed in an interview last year.
Kantamanto is both a famous thrift market and a final resting place for the Global North’s unwanted clothes, and Kubi’s process is the antithesis to the fast fashion system which necessitates waste exports on a global scale. The creative director abides by the ethos “reconstruct, re-use, and reduce” and seeks to impart creative value rather than saturating an already saturated market. Having already captured international attention, it’s clear the industry has an appetite for fashion that gives more than it takes.
Text Sophie Benson
