Ade Dehye's Sustainable Streetwear Is a Star of Oakland Style Week

“The things I work on, I’m passionate about,” Akintunde Ahmad tells me over the phone. “So it’s never a burden or a chore.”

Ahmad, who has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Yale and a master’s in journalism from Columbia, is a writer, journalist, documentarian and co-founder of the Oakland cafe and community space Kinfolx. He’s also the founder of the ethically and sustainably made-in-Ghana clothing brand Ade Dehye, which has been worn by Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala and Common. Some might consider the word “multi-hyphenate” cliche, but if anyone deserves the title, it’s this 27-year-old creative from East Oakland.

When I catch up with Ahmad, he’s in Los Angeles and recently wrapped up work on Anthem, a Hulu documentary he helped produce about American music. He tells me the temporary move has been a great opportunity to explore new markets for Ade Dehye, but that he’ll return to Oakland for Ade Dehye’s Oct. 20 runway show at Oakland Style Lab for Oakland Style Week, which gets underway October 18-22.

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The idea for Ade Dehye first came to Ahmad when he spent a semester abroad in Ghana during college.

“I’d never been interested in fashion before, but in Ghana I started going to fabric markets and seeing tons of new textiles. There’s so many tailors there — so any clothing I could think of I could get made,” says Ahmad. “So I just started making garments.”

Ahmad began experimenting with all types of West African textiles, such as fugu (hand-woven in the upper Western region of Ghana) and bogolan mudcloth (hand-spun and -dyed in Mali) to create brightly patterned coats and overshirts shimmering with color.

“I’d mix the indigenous textile with urban, streetwear silhouettes in order to create items that I, or the folks in my community, would want to wear,” says Ahmad.

When Ahmad wore his new clothes, friends repeatedly complimented him. He realized he’d created something special. But it wouldn’t be until 2019, once he’d graduated and saved up money, that he could start his brand.

“At the time, I spoke with my friend Awurama out there who runs the brand Threaded Tribes,” says Ahmad. “She linked me with the production team she uses and that’s how things started.”

The Accra-based production team Ahmad opted for is small-scale. Every step is human-powered: Fabrics and textiles are hand-woven, and the cut-and-sew process is done by hand. Any dyes used are natural, and any screenprints done by hand.

“I wanted to build a social enterprise,” says Ahmad. “If it was just about money, it would’ve been easier to go to China. But I wanted to have an impact, to build sustainably in Ghana.”

One reason Ahmad prioritized sustainability is the clothing waste crisis in Ghana. Every week, 15 million items of secondhand clothing are shipped to Ghana from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Roughly 40% of what is shipped to Ghana, however, is unusable and ends up in landfills — a percentage that’s constantly rising with the growth of fast fashion.

“​​The quality of what’s sent over is continually decreasing, both in actual construction quality and in the overall condition of the clothes,” says Ahmad. “So they end up in massive landfills like Korle Lagoon.”

Beyond sustainability, that his garments are ethically made is also critical to Ahmad. He says production workers are paid livable wages, and he frequently visits to verify that working conditions are safe.

“Africa has been exploited since the Berlin Conference of 1854,” says Ahmad. “I’m not in the business of exploiting folks. Especially not when we can all win together.”

Exploitation on the continent is not the only trend Ahmad’s brand hopes to help disrupt — he also hopes it will help challenge the acute Eurocentrism of high fashion.

“Of any demographic, Black people spend the highest percentage of their income on luxury goods,” says Ahmad. “But high fashion is dominated by European fashion houses that haven’t traditionally cared about Black people. I want to highlight through [Ade Dehye] that there are Black-owned alternatives.”

For Ahmad, creating a strong Black-owned alternative is deeper than merely allowing for more racial representation in the industry.

“By spending on Black-owned brands, you’re spending with someone who’s more likely to spend or reinvest with others in the Black community. That economic flow in turn creates better opportunities and resources. That’s the bigger picture I hope folks understand. It’s not just about race — it’s about communities, economic power, and allowing for more.”

This hope to empower and strengthen his community is also what drives Ahmad’s work with the cafe and event space Kinfolx.

The idea for Kinfolx spawned when Ahmad and his close friend Creighton Davis struggled to find Black-owned businesses where they could meet to discuss community issues. It’s no surprise, Ahmad says: Since 1990, through gentrification and displacement, Oakland’s Black population has almost halved.

“It’s weird being downtown in a city you’ve grown up and done so much in — only to now get judged on appearance when you go in somewhere,” says Ahmad. “So we wanted to create a space where it’s apparent that Black and brown people are valued.”

Kinfolx frequently hosts community events, like live music or game nights. The space is also entirely furnished by Black-owned businesses. The walls showcase art by Black artists, the bar serves wines from Black-owned wineries and even the toilets in the bathroom are from a Black-owned company.

“Some people say ‘I won’t work with Black folks because they don’t do things right,’” says Ahmad. “But our success shows there’s no excuse. If we’re doing it, why can’t you?”

Ahmad and I are nearing the end of our conversation, so I can’t help but ask: For someone whose accomplished so much across so many fields, what does he want to do next?

“I want to create resources and videos that’ll encourage people to build with folks that have been overlooked and exploited,” he says. “I also want Ade Dehye to become a household name, and I want to show folks we got there by doing it the right way.”

He pauses reflectively. “Oh yeah, and of course — I want to enjoy. Just enjoy the ride.”

Ade Dehye is featured in the Style Wars: Streetwear Runway Show on Oct. 20 at Oakland Style Lab as part of Oakland Style Week. 

Correction, Oct. 18, 2023: A previous version of this article stated that Akintunde Ahmad is of Ghanaian heritage. He is not.