2020 Apologies + catching up with elegance

Let me start by apologising to you for the long silence. It’s been quite the year, let me catch you up on what you’ve missed from our fashion house.

The year 2020 has not only been a challenging year financially but psychologically as well. The pandemic has had drastic effects on all sectors with the fashion industry being one of the hardest hit.

As a business, we had to make some tough choices in order to survive the pandemic. Like most companies, my team and I switched to remote working. Being away from the workshop has been one of the biggest adjustments I’ve had to make. We turned to technology for communication and I had to rely on tools like Zoom and WhatsApp to communicative my visuals with the team as we worked on a collection. I’ve also had to multitask more than ever and adapt to working with a smaller team. Through it all, I’ve learned to be a bit more patient.

Adjusting like many fashion houses we went into production of African wax fabric masks. These masks were made to sustain the business during the lockdown and we are incredibly grateful for the orders received.

During the lockdown, I worked from my home in Nanyuki on the foot of Mount Kenya. During the seclusion, I’ve grown an even greater appreciation for nature. I’ve also been able to interact with the locals who are from the Masaai tribe, one of the African cultures AD draws inspiration from. The Masaai people have done a great job of keeping their rich culture intact through the years. I also launch an online mini-series -Travel with your Eyes- featuring a series of photographs for those stuck at home during the pandemic.

It has been a bumpy ride but we’ve come out stronger than ever. We continue making more affordable African Luxury accessories that tell the African story and touch people’s lives. That said, we’ve also had great things happen this year that we are thrilled to share with you

AD was featured in Beyonce’s Black is King Album.

One of the highlights of the year is getting featured Beyonce’s video to the song Power.

In the video, Beyonce can be spotted wearing the Kenyan wooden comb with gold leaf applique pendant on a brass chain. We were also featured on the artist’s Black Parade, which spotlights black-owned and African businesses.

We are incredibly grateful to Beyonce and Team Black Parade for the support.

CNN Africa Avant-Garde series Interview

In August, I welcomed the CNN team to my home in Nanyuki as they interviewed me for the CNN Africa Avant-Garde series. I was able to share the challenges the brand has faced and the new opportunities that have presented themselves during the pandemic. I also talked about how we have managed to adapt, yet stay focused on the Adele Dejak vision as well as the principles of the African Renaissance Movement by taking pride in your African heritage and culture. We launched two collections! So much oomph and elegance.

This year, we launched two highly anticipated AD Collections: Hope and AMI II

Hope is our third collection after the Faith and Love collections!

Faith cannot work without Love and Hope and this new collection is about tying and consolidating the three themes together to demonstrate African resilience and tenacity even in the middle of a global pandemic.

After the hugely successful AMI I collection, we launched AMI II, a stunning collection with the signature AD boldness and sophistication. A narrative with AD vision of African Luxury accessories. Next blog post will be on AMI II.

We look forward to things getting back to normal especially now that we see some light at the end of the tunnel. We are grateful to our customers who kept buying even during the pandemic and our partners who stood by us this entire time. We look forward to people being in a better position to buy products they love with elegance, as well as interacting with our amazing customers during events.

Adele Dejak is more than a product, it’s a lifestyle and we are excited to share Africa with the rest of the world. While it’s been a difficult year, we expect the New Year will bring good tidings.

To give thanks to our customers, we extended our 30% Off Thanksgiving Sale for the whole of December.

The Coupon Code is THANKS2020.

So Come. Shop. Stay.

Look out for our newsletters for more updates and offers.

Enjoy!