Gaki African Wear is a brand deeply rooted in personal identity, creativity, and cultural pride. The founder, Wagakii, began her journey as both a merchant and a creator blending entrepreneurship with originality. Inspired by everyday needs, her designs combine traditional African influences with modern practicality. From kitenges to kiondos, she reimagines African heritage pieces not just as cultural symbols but as fashion statements for daily life. Her work emphasizes that African artistry is timeless, youthful, and relevant across generations.
Gaki Collection to Gaki African Wear: A Name Evolves
The journey started just after school when Wagakii began selling deras from Eastleigh. Customers’ natural curiosity about how to style these dresses led her to sandals, a shift that would later define her brand. She started sourcing footwear from Kariokor, creating a natural bridge between clothing and accessories. Her first brand name was Gaki Collection, which eventually evolved into Gaki African Wear, a more authentic reflection of her identity and vision. Marketing began on Facebook and Instagram, where she wore her own products and gained organic interest from friends, followers, and admirers. Over time, her reach extended beyond Kenya, with sales and shipping to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and even Europe.
Joyce Wagaki-Founder Gaki African Wear
When Customers Become Co-Creators
Wagakii’s creative process is a blend of inspiration and collaboration. She draws heavily from Pinterest for initial ideas, then adapts them with local artisans (“fundis”) to achieve unique perfection. Customer feedback and brand collaborations also influence her designs, allowing her to create customized items that reflect diverse tastes. While sandals remain her signature product especially the wedge sandals known for their orthopedic support and wearability — her collection has expanded to include bags, viondos (woven bags from Ukambani), watches, and accessories. She insists on precision, quality, and durability, often reworking artisan prototypes until they meet her standard of excellence. This process has also taught her the importance of balancing creativity with reliability, as artisan timelines and quality control sometimes present challenges.
Gaki African Wear Collection on display
Breaking Biases, Building Confidence
For Gaki, fashion is more than just business; it is cultural storytelling and empowerment. Sandals have become her identity marker, making her a go-to name for functional yet stylish footwear. Bags, her second-best sellers, are slowly carving their own niche in her customer base. Through her work, she breaks stereotypes , redefining kiondos as chic everyday accessories rather than just grocery baskets, and repositioning kitenges as versatile and youthful. She also uplifts artisans, especially both women and men like the craftswoman from Ukambani who makes viondos, creating opportunities for local communities to thrive.
At the same time, Gaki’s resilience in navigating challenges from inconsistent artisan delivery timelines to international shipping costs and customer reliability reflects her impact as a role model for young African women in business. Her story is proof that entrepreneurship is not linear but shaped by persistence, creativity, and adaptation.
A Household Name, Locally and Globally
Looking ahead, Gaki dreams of owning a production house with a dedicated in-house team. This will allow her to standardize production, maintain quality, and reduce dependence on external artisans. Her vision is for Gaki African Wear to become a household name — known both locally and internationally.
A key enabler of this vision is her partnership with Mawu Africa. By handling shipping on her behalf, Mawu Africa lifts the burden of international logistics and ensures her products reach customers abroad reliably and affordably. This support allows Gaki to expand her reach without being slowed down by cross-border challenges, enabling her to focus on scaling production and refining her brand. With Mawu Africa by her side, Gaki sees the path to her dreams becoming clearer: African sandals, bags, and kimonos gaining recognition on the world stage, while her brand proudly tells a story of heritage, creativity, and modern elegance.
Discover and Shop Gaki Africa Wear collection
Mawu Africa Team member with Gaki African Wear Founder
