Profile: Felloci Howa – Real Leather Design Competitions

Felloci Howa

Self Employed

Ekari Footwear

My name is Felloci Howa a Malawian leather designer and artisan trainer with over ten years of experience advancing circular design through culturally rooted, material-led practice. My work transforms food-industry by-product leather into functional accessories that honor African utility while meeting international durability and sustainability standards. My design philosophy is material-first. Scars, grain variations, and tannery off-cuts that dictate each silhouette, ensuring zero-waste patterning and unique outcomes. This approach underpins my studio’s commitment to chrome-free, vegetable-tanned processes and 95% waste-derived material use, directly aligning with the Real Leather Stay Different ethos that waste, not leather, is the problem. As a trainer, I have built one of Malawi’s leading artisan development programs. I lead some workshops for emerging makers and cooperatives, covering sustainable sourcing, zero-waste cutting, mlaza grass integration, saddle-stitch construction, and repair culture. My curriculum equips artisans with both technical skill and commercial viability, paying three times the local day-rate and creating export-ready products rooted in Malawian identity. My recent project, the _Alingofa handbag for RLSD 2026, exemplifies my impact: by-product leather, recycled grass, mlaza grass reinforcement, and repurposed chitenje cotton combine to solve environmental, social, and economic challenges simultaneously. Whether designing, judging, or mentoring, I advocate for slow belonging over fast fashion. I believe leather’s future is collaborative, circular, and African-led. My role is to ensure the next generation of makers design with conscience — turning heritage and waste into heirlooms that age with wisdom.

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Alingofa Bag

Category: Accessories

Competitions: Africa

Alingofa, meaning “to be seen” in Chichewa, is a handbag designed in Blantyre to solve three problems: leather waste, rural unemployment, and short-lived fashion. Alingofa addresses fast fashion’s culture of disposability through Malawian heritage and material innovation. “Mudzi Weave” reinterprets the mlaza grass baskets carried daily by Malawian women to market, translating that symbol of resilience into enduring leather design. The form is inspired by the Malawian chikwama, a utilitarian bag used to transport goods and sustain families. A structured frame of vegetable-tanned cowhide is hand-tooled with patterns based on Chewa proverbs and Lake Malawi’s contours. Handwoven mlaza grass panels, produced by women cooperatives, are inset into each bag. No two pieces are identical. Each carries the distinct hand of its weaver. Over 60% of accessories are oil-based synthetics engineered for obsolescence. Alingofa applies a design-led system, the pattern optimise each local cowhide, nesting components to reduce leather waste by 35%. It identifies structural stress points and reinforces them with leather while integrating breathable mlaza to reduce weight. The process moves from hand sketches to textile variants to final hand-finishing. “Mudzi Weave” comprises ≥70% cowhide, a by-product of Malawi’s meat industry, tanned locally. This biodegrades, unlike PVC which persists for centuries. The project links to a lifecycle tracker that verifies local tannery and cooperative sourcing, quantifying CO2 savings versus synthetics, and maps Malawi’s cobbler repair network. Stitch-down construction and replaceable mlaza panels enabling a 15-year lifespan. The design uses zero plastic and zero synthetic lining. Created for African urban professionals, Alingofa merges heritage with technology. Internal organization reduces daily wear. Modular, repairable construction delivers long-term value. The 70% leather and 30% mlaza composition meets competition requirements while supporting Malawi’s craft economy. Real leather. Real story. 15 years, not 15 wears.