KWAKU MENSAH, UPCYCLER

“Thirty-three!”, Kwaku blurted out in a tone of accomplishment to his wife and their seventeen year old daughter, Angela, as he completed counting a pile of split panel polo shirts. The three of them have been working on it since 7pm. Kwaku’s wife is a seamstress with years of experience and Angela, a science student with enthusiasm for clothing and clothing making. Taking work home has never been something Kwaku Mensah enjoys doing, but with the nature of his work as a secondhand clothing upcycler, he is often forced to do so during power cuts, the bane of almost all of the Kantamanto community. For Kwaku, the silver lining is being able to spend time with his family through the process. On some days, Angela and her mum visit Kwaku at the market. Such days are definitely some of the best for Kwaku. Not only because he gets to see his family in his work space, but also the opportunity to show off Angela to his friends in Kantamanto, making known her academic achievements. Kwaku often talks about how there is barely any dignity left in his work – but when he talks about Angela, his dignity as a father is almost palpable.

It’s a few minutes before six in the morning and Kwaku has already made it into Kantamanto after a two hour long bus ride from home. “Here in Kantamanto, time is resource, time is money” a mantra Kwaku likes to throw out every now and then, usually in defense of the twelve-hour+/six days a week time commitment he gives to his work. As a lane leader, he spends the earlier parts of his morning checking up on members on his lane in the market. He proceeds to open his stall which houses an industrial serger, an industrial overlocker, a cutting table and 3 stools. Though very compact, the wood and aluminum mesh walls of the stall give off an airy and openness to the space. Lydia, Kwaku’s apprentice turned employee, arrives as Kwaku is still setting up. They immediately get into conversations about the order of work for the day. Lydia is the last of three employees. Due to trade inconsistencies at the peak of the pandemic, and the fire outbreak that left Kwaku’s part of the market in ashes, Kwaku had to make the very difficult decision of letting go of the two other employees. “If the bird doesn’t fly, it starves. It just did not make sense keeping them here when I knew I had no capacity to incentivise them the way they deserve. Letting them go seemed to be my only option as they may be better opportunities out there for them”.

Rose, a retailer Kwaku has been working closely with for years, holds up a pink Miami beach club polo shirt as she waits for a nod of approval from Kwaku. He approves and adds it to a pile at his feet, totaling one hundred and forty polo shirts ready for Kwaku’s magic touch. In Kantamanto, upcyclers work hand-in-hand with retailers. Upcyclers collect unsold secondhand garments from retailers, upcycle them, sell them and then share profits. The items Kwaku just picked from Rose is going to be an addition to the thirty-three split panel polo shirts he had worked on with his family the night before. The split panel polo shirts are Kwaku’s bestsellers. He creates them by identifying defects like holes, tears and stains. He cuts out defects and meticulously pieces all the other parts of the polo shirts together based on colors, graphics, textures, pockets and such. He introduces details like piping made from the hems and side seams of polo shirts he has resized and applies them in such a harmonious manner.