IVORIAN-Burkinabe tailor Pathe'O can look back on a 50-year career that has seen him rise from self-taught improviser to supplier of Africa's wealthy and powerful, including anti-apartheid torchbearer Nelson Mandela.
As well as South Africa's first black president, his richly coloured shirts have graced the backs of Moroccan King Mohamed VI, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and the continent's richest man Aliko Dangote.
Now he's doing his best to change attitudes to his profession across Africa and create opportunities for the next generation.
"In the minds of many people here, tailoring is a job for people who didn't go to school, a job for failures," Pathe Ouedraogo his legal name says with a smile.
"But African fashion, African fabrics interest the whole world! There's a wealth of creators and talents," he adds.
"We have to move up from cottage industry to mass manufacture, produce more to move Africa forward."
- 'My parents' blessing' -
A tall, slender man at 70 with the face of a wise elder, Pathe'O is never seen without one of his own vibrant shirts.
Now at the head of a pocket business empire that stretches across 10 countries and employs 60 people, the father-of-three still shows up every day at the workshops in Abidjan's working-class district of Treichville, where he first set up shop 50 years ago.
Back then, rejected for work in the cocoa fields because of his frail health, he started teaching himself tailoring in a little workspace rented for just a few francs.
Bit by bit he improved, starting to make a wider name for himself by winning the local "Golden Scissors" contest in 1987.
Ten years later, Mandela would wear one of his shirts on an official visit to France, the images prompting new customers to beat a path to his door.
It was a heady rise for a man born during French colonial rule in the Upper Volta later Burkina Faso who set off aged 19 to make his fortune in Ivory Coast with nothing but "my parents' blessing" in his pocket, according to his biography "De fil en aiguille" ("From thread to needle").
"I never thought 50 years ago that I'd be here. It's amazing!" the founder told reporters at a recent press conference in a luxury hotel as he unveiled the book.
- A 'simple man' -
Now dozens of workers are packed into three large rooms scarcely ventilated by ceiling fans.
All the work is done by hand on old cast-iron Singer sewing machines, and Pathe'O moves among the tailors, designers and pressers to check their work and lend advice.
"You have to know how to do everything in this trade," he says.
Leon Ouedraogo no relation has worked with Pathe'O for 40 years and now runs the shop floor.
He calls his boss "a simple man, always ready to talk, who takes time to listen and explain".
The founder shows off the intricately patterned cloths dyed in another workshop in the same Abidjan district.
Each is known by a familiar name to insiders, from the "speckled" and "speckled print", to "salad" and "clouds" as well as the "Faso Danfani" patterns from Burkina.
- 'Gave us pride' -
"You've got to keep creating every day, surprise your customers, everyone wants something new," says Pathe'O.
He finds inspiration on the street, from women who go to market decked in multicoloured clothes and scarves.
Ivorian designer Gilles Toure says that his mentor Pathe'O "gave us pride in wearing African fabrics".
Pathe'O himself plans to put all his business success and international recognition behind what he calls his "battle" to win respect for Africa's fashion industry.
He sees it as a key economic sector that could help the continent along its road to development.
With a huge, modern new headquarters building in the trendy Cocody district of Abidjan that will also host its charitable foundation, Maison Pathe'O hopes to "bring forth a new generation of African creators".
ETX Studio
Sun Jun 06 2021
Dyers dye cotton fabric at Pathe'O house in the popular district of Treichville in Abidjan. ETXStudiopic
Pelajar tahfiz perlu teroka bidang teknologi
Kira-kira 200,000 pelajar tahfiz di negara ini, perlu dipastikan untuk mempunyai kemampuan dan peluang menjadi tenaga penggerak kepada umat Islam Malaysia dalam meneroka bidang yang dahulu dilihat sebagai asing., tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Perpaduan rakyat prasyarat ekonomi mampan
Tidak semua negara Islam mempunyai ruang dan kesempatan untuk terus aman dan damai, dan mempunyai peluang untuk menikmati ekonomi yang kukuh dan berkembang seperti Malaysia, tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Tidak perlu tergesa-gesa tukar ke lesen B - JPJ
Pemegang Lesen Memandu Malaysia (LMM) Kelas B2 dan B1 tidak perlu tergesa-gesa mendaftar Program Khas Peralihan LLM Kelas B2/B1 Kepada LMM Kelas B kerana tiada had masa ditetapkan untuk permohonan.
KPWKM teruskan lapan inisiatif bantu warga emas
Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat (KPWKM) akan terus menggerakkan lapan inisiatif utama dalam memenuhi keperluan jagaan dan sistem sokongan terhadap warga emas.
Warga emas maut ditikam anak kandung yang berhalusinasi
Seorang pesara guru maut ditikam anak kandungnya sendiri di sebuah rumah dekat Kampung Senaling, di sini, petang Sabtu.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Sabtu, 5 Oktober 2024.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Hezbollah lancar serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kompleks industri ketenteraan di utara Israel
Pergerakan Hezbollah di Lubnan berkata mereka telah melancarkan serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kemudahan ATA Defence Industries.
Tiada kaitan dengan pelantikan CEO MDEC, Anuar Fariz bukan adik saya - Fahmi
Menteri Komunikasi Fahmi Fadzil menyangkal dakwaan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) baharu Perbadanan Ekonomi Digital Malaysia (MDEC) Anuar Fariz Fadzil merupakan adiknya.
Israel lakukan persiapan untuk serang Iran - Laporan
Tentera Israel sedang bersiap untuk "tindakan balas besar-besaran dan ekstrem" terhadap Iran.