Changing Kenya, One T-Shirt At A Time!
Last Updated August 24th, 2009 at 6:20PM EST
By: Wairimu Waithaka “All our designs have a strong tattoo feel because tattoos signify camaraderie of pain which breeds solidarity. The words are mostly Swahili slang so that man in the street can identify to them and own them.” These are the words of Robert Munuku, who together with his cousin Githinji Mbugua, started the clothing line “V2.KALI” – a play on the Swahili slang words “VITU KALI” which mean “hot stuff”. But the term clothing line is an understatement. Robert continues, “In a nutshell, V2Kali is a cocktail of visual artists and fabric designers. It is a design movement born off the streets of Nairobi. It is a manifestation of the youth taking over the running of Kenya. The youth control the bulk of creative forces that run our economy and also form majority of the consumers of all products. V2.KALI endeavours to rally them to form a powerful economic bloc that will inject the much needed vitality to enable Kenya to compete in the global market.” The line began in 2004 in the simplest of ways, with the printing of designs on store bought t-shirts, work Robert describes as “low quality with low yields”. The business subsequently underwent a four-year hiatus but the dream was revived in 2008, with an aim to make the venture a more serious t-shirt designing entity. And serious is exactly what they did: hiring a tailor to make the t-shirts from scratch to the designers’ specifications using good quality fabric they bought themselves and setting about to work up excellent, contemporary designs. And slowly but surely, the business has grown. Currently, the line carries t-shirts, hooded tops, casual tops and bags. Plans are underway to have the line include official shirts, blouses, khaki pants, jeans, and even sports wear in the very near future. “We have been in business for roughly 3 months now and though we’re still teething, we believe our venture is one that is new and unique to the Kenyan market and thus, its effects will be far reaching once our goal reaches true fruition.” And what is this goal? “Basically, our goal is to be a fully fledged clothing line that can truly be said to be Kenyan, one that any one who is Kenyan and for Kenya can identify with and be proud to wear.” The designs have a distinct style. “We do mainly what is known as ‘tribal art’. This is a style composed of semi-abstract images characterized by interwoven curves, sharp edges and uniform use of voids and planes. We use neutral colours – grey, black & white – and pastel colours like baby pink and sky blue.” Their designs are very easily associated with Kenya, so that anyone who wears a V2.KALI design can easily relate to as being Kenyan. And finally, the vision: “Currently, the youth with all their talent and buying power are a scattered and disillusioned force being exploited by market barons. Each youth cuts down his fellow in a bid to get patronage from market barons. We want give the youth a sense of identity, that they should be proud of being Kenyan, and that they should unite and make Kenya shine worldwide.” Words spoken with such conviction, it is clear these boys are going places and they’re taking the whole of Kenya, bit by it, with them! | Story In Photos
 This is a tribal design of the sun into which the words “Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu” are embedded. This is the first line in the Swahili version of our national anthem: Oh God Our Strength. It evokes patriotism and faith.  This design features an elephant’s image cleverly hidden in V2.KALI’s signature tribal style. The words ‘Umoja ni Nguvu’ (Unity is Strength), a sort on word-and-picture play.  Then there is the ubiquitous Obama t-shirt, but unlike the others, this unique portrayal has one of Kenya’s greatest sons inside a tribal Kenyan map with the words ’www.ba-mdogo.com’, a fictitious web site. “Ba mdogo” or “Baba Mdogo” is the Swahili term for “uncle”. In many communities, an uncle teaches male youth necessary life lessons. Indirectly, this design poses a challenge: to recognise Obama’s achievements in his and, like you would from an uncle, learn from him.  This design has our capital ‘Nairobi’ in tribal font superimposed onto an image of the Kenya International Conference Centre (KICC) one of the city’s most popular architectural landmarks and at one point, the tallest building in Nairobi. The words ‘Staajabu Jiji Ajabu’ (Awe at a Great City) underneath draw pride and belonging. |
