WAYA wants to spice up your wardrobe with Ugandan-made clothes

In the process, she discovered that the image the media had created about Africa – the one of “diseased and poor” people – was wrong and that she could do a lot here.

Part of the plan included telling the African startup story so that she could contribute to changing how the western world perceives Africa.

In January 2020, she launched the Foundality podcast and started interviewing African entrepreneurs to tell their stories.

She only did one season after realising it’d take more work than she had anticipated.

She initially wanted to launch a seed fund, but discovered that the idea was conceived by a “very young and naive” mind who “thought it was gonna be much easier and realised it wasn’t."

She said after doing research and learning more about startup ecosystem, she opted for the podcast because finding the right companies to invest in was difficult.

From L-R: Antonia Lorenz, Lincoln Axarya and models wearing Waya-made outfits Pulse

This reporter met Lorenz at MoTIV, the creatives co-working space based in Bugolobi Industrial Area along Old Port Bell Road.

She gives firm handshakes and maintains eye contact, a standard procedure in the business world. The reasons for this vary depending on whom you talk to, but it’s mostly to help size up the person you’re talking to and project confidence.

"I realised I just wanna build my company," Antonia Lorenz, 24, told this reporter when he asked why she dropped her earlier ideas.

WAYA Clothing

A graduate of Industrial Engineering and Management with a knack for design, after moving around Kampala noticed that there were missing links in the fashion industry.

"I noticed that [people] like to dress,... and when I came back after Covid, I was like this is something I wanna pursue... I did research,... and I started out focusing mainly on production; wanted to deal with different tailors to produce products and then export them,” she said.

However, she “realised really quickly" that sourcing already-made products from designers wouldn’t be easy to scale while maintaining quality.

The solution: Building a factory

Models sporting Waya Clothing-made clothes Pulse

From her research, Lorenz noticed that compared to what she was used to in Germany, the shopping experience here was “inconvenient."

She also believes world-class manufacturers rarely make products with an African consumer in mind because the middle class is small.

“There are very generic products for Africans," she said.

To address these concerns, Lorenz started WAYA Clothing.

How it works

WAYA Clothing sources materials from local manufacturers like Nytil and Fine Spinners Uganda. They work with a product designer at MoTIV to come up with design variations. Tailors are also within MoTIV.

Lorenz and Lincoln Axarya, WAYA’s creative director and the only full-time employee, have to make sure that they supervise the process from the start to the end to ensure quality is not compromised.

Axarya has a background in textile design and painting.

According to Lorenz, sometimes local manufacturers don’t meet their quality and variety, so they have to buy imported materials, but from local distributors.

WAYA mainly sells its clothes through its online platform. They also participate in local markets and exhibitions.

In May, which is also the month of launch, WAYA Clothing held a fashion show that attracted some 300 guests.

Models looking incredible in Waya-clothing Kaftan suits Pulse

This reporter, though okay with the pricing of women’s clothes, with tops costing as low as Shs30,000, was concerned with the cost of men’s Kaftan suits which cost Shs170,000.

They strike one as a luxury product, not something one would buy for a casual outing.

A 2021 report by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) put Uganda's middle class at 8.3 million Ugandans (22% of the population). These are Ugandans that have a per capita daily consumption expenditure between $2-$20 (Shs7,300–Shs73,000) in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

However, this year a Bank of Uganda Financial Capability Survey indicated that out of the 22.8 million working Ugandans, only 1 percent earn more than Shs1 million while 49.2 percent earn less than Shs150,000 per month.

Lorenz said that while she has received similar feedback, their pricing is still lower than what it would cost when acquired from downtown Kampala for the same quality.

Asked if she has thought about expanding the market through exporting, she said that she tried and realised that competing with China is nearly impossible.

“It is really, really hard," she declared, adding that doing it would mean increasing the cost of production, which would call for increased investment or exploiting labour to make margins.

For the local market, she said: "What makes us stand out is that we know the market better... I think people love fashion that speaks to them, and I don't think the majority of second-hand clothes speak to people.”

Antonia Lorenz said WAYA's vision is to open retail stores all over Africa selling locally-made clothing at scale.