Kampala-based fashion label BUZIGAHILL, led by Creative Director Bobby Kolade, has been selected as one of 19 winners of the Berlin Fashion Week concept competition in the category Berlin Contemporary. The brand’s runway debut marks Kolade’s return to Berlin Fashion Week. With its eleventh collection, RTS11, BUZIGAHILL continues its defiant and politically charged act RETURN TO SENDER (RTS): a practice of redesigning discarded second-hand garments from Europe, North America, and Asia and transforming them into high-end fashion before sending them back to the Global North.
The Brand
BUZIGAHILL and RTS are a direct response to the impacts of second-hand clothing exports on Uganda’s textile industry. RTS represents BUZIGAHILL’s ability to participate in the global conversations around art, fashion, and policy by reversing waste flows through the creation of critical and desirable clothing. It is a collective refusal to remain at the receiving end of the second-hand supply chain.
Each garment tells its own story: carefully sourced from Kampala’s Owino Market, cleaned, analyzed, and transformed through meticulous upcycling systems. Every piece receives a unique „passport“ documenting its origin, material composition, production timeline, and ID number.
BUZIGAHILL works collaboratively with designers, artists, second-hand traders, and craft-based initiatives such as the Milaya Project based in the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement in northwestern Uganda.
About the Designer
Bobby Kolade is the founder and Creative Director of BUZIGAHILL. He was born in Sudan to Nigerian-German parents and grew up between Kampala and Lagos. After studying fashion design at the Academy of Arts Berlin Weissensee, he gained professional experience at Maison Margiela and Balenciaga in Paris.
From 2013 to 2016, Kolade ran his eponymous label in Berlin, known for its striking use of Ugandan barkcloth, receiving accolades such as the Start Your Fashion Business Award and the UNESCO Creative Cities Network’s New Star Award. Following two years working in Uganda’s cotton industry, he launched BUZIGAHILL in 2022: a brand that radically reimagines design, activism, and textile renewal.
International Recognition
Since launching RETURN TO SENDER in Kampala in 2022, BUZIGAHILL has been featured on international stages including Pitti Uomo in Florence, the State of Fashion Biennale in the Netherlands, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial in the UAE, and the Design & Arts Museum FAD Barcelona.
Drop 05 for buzigahill label from Kampala, Uganda
Buzigahill Drop 06 Looks 2023
