Panâh, a luxury fashion production house based in New York City, moved to Kenya in 2013 when the ethical consumerism trend was picking up in the U.S.

The founders had looked at several other places including Haiti and Bolivia where they said they wanted to set up an ethical fashion production house, according to a report in HowWeMadeItInAfrica.

Entrepreneurs Evgeniya Khromina and Morteza Saifi had worked with some of the world’s leading brands for over 20 years. They were looking for “other challenges that would create social opportunities for people,” Saifi said.

They discovered East Africa, “which has an amazing location along the Indian Ocean that makes shipment easier, a great pool of labor and a lot of aspirational consumers who have disposable income.”

From HowWeMadeItInAfrica. Story by Dinfin Mulupi.

Panâh provides design and product development, sourcing, and manufacturing services for global and emerging African fashion brands. Its clients include Edun, a label started by U2’s frontman Bono and his wife Ali Hewson; Swedish brand Elsa and Me; Lemlem, founded by Ethiopian model Liya Kebede; and African luxury brands Mille Collines, Adèle Dejak, and Katungulu Mwendwa. It currently produces 500 pieces a month and plans to double this over the next year.

The company has carved a niche in ethical production – an emerging sector driven by consumers’ desire for more transparency in the clothing manufacturing process. In 2013, an eight-story garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people. This incident again cast the spotlight on Asia’s sweatshops supplying big western brands.

For Panâh, ethical production means providing a secure space for its staff, paying them above minimum wage, providing free breakfast and lunch, and offering training and skills development opportunities. And its raw materials also have to be sourced sustainably and handled in ways that do not harm the environment.

Running a sustainable business while applying these standards, however, comes with additional costs.

Read more at HowWeMadeItInAfrica.