PANAFRICA was born from a conviction. And probably also from a certain degree of recklessness.
In 2015, we decided to leave our respective jobs to embark on an adventure whose outlines and outcome we did not control. We had a simple idea: create sneakers inspired by Africa and manufacture them on the African continent.
At the time, no one believed in it. Many told us it would be too complicated, too risky. That producing locally costs more. That infrastructure was lacking. That supply chains were complex. We understood the risks but were determined to prove that it was all possible.
So we packed our bags and hit the African roads. From the souks of Morocco to the workshops of Burkina Faso, from the weavers of Benin to the artisans of Ghana, we went wherever there was expertise, materials, and the women and men who bring them to life. We traveled thousands of kilometers. As we met people, a certainty grew: Africa lacks neither talent, creativity, nor know-how. It sometimes lacks investment, confidence, and actors willing to build for the long term. This is the Africa we want to portray. An Africa that creates, produces, innovates, and undertakes. For ten years, every collection, every partnership, and every decision has been guided by this same desire: to participate, on our scale, in building more value on the continent.
In 2026, we are taking a decisive step. After working for ten years with African partners, we are opening our own production factory in Côte d'Ivoire. An ambitious project. A risky project. A project that many consider unreasonable. For us, it is simply the logical continuation of the adventure. It is the very reason why PANAFRICA exists.
Create jobs. Train women and men for the jobs of tomorrow. Invest locally. Control our production. Prove that a demanding, competitive, and sustainable industry can develop at the heart of the continent.
Since day one, we have moved forward with the same conviction: the most beautiful adventures are those that are built step by step with energy and commitment.
Welcome to ours!
key moments
An extraordinary adventure
Since 2015, we have experienced Africa at the pace of its roads. Nights in small hotels, days in workshops, thousands of kilometers traveled and countless encounters...
first struggles
Our first purchases of made-in-Africa cotton. On the flooded roads of central Côte d'Ivoire, we'll leave our first car there.
"we know nothing about it"
This is where we launch our first prototypes. We don't know anything about it, but Bouchaib is giving us time and allowing us to launch a first collection. We can't thank him enough.
cotton made in Africa
Our first steps in weaving and dyeing cotton locally in Burkina thanks to Mariette, who opened her doors to us.
A lifelong project
In 2026, we decided to live in Ivory Coast and open the country's first sneaker factory. A major challenge... and a true source of pride.
SOME NUMBERS
200,000
Social media followers
80
Jobs created (including 30 direct jobs)
10,000
Pairs produced annually in Côte d'Ivoire
We have chosen to integrate a significant training component at the core of our project. Our objective is to enable individuals who are far from employment to acquire new skills, discover trades in the footwear industry, and build a sustainable professional path.
Like Anzoumana (pictured opposite), more than twenty employees are currently being trained within our production facility. Supported daily by our teams, they learn the different stages of manufacturing a pair of sneakers, develop technical expertise, and gradually gain autonomy.
Beyond job creation, we wish to contribute to the transmission of skills and participate, at our level, in the development of a local footwear industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Because training is also an investment in the future: that of our employees, their families, and the region where we have chosen to grow.
Our ambition? To prove that it is possible to create, produce, train, and grow on the continent. To build a demanding industry, capable of manufacturing quality products while relying on and strengthening local expertise over time.
This means producing, but also transmitting knowledge. Opening up concrete opportunities for those who didn't necessarily have them, and giving them the means to acquire lasting skills in a technical and structuring sector.
It also means accepting that not everything will be simple or immediate. Building a sector means moving forward step by step, with successes, adjustments, sometimes doubts, but always with the same direction: to grow industrial capacity on the continent.
Through every pair manufactured, we try, on our scale, to contribute to creating more opportunities for those who will build the Africa of tomorrow.
German cooperation, through the "Invest for jobs" initiative, has funded a crucial part of the training sessions as well as the educational material needed to structure and deploy this program under good conditions.
Beyond financial support, it is above all a relationship of trust that has been established. Trust placed in a project still under construction. This trust played a key role in getting the project off the ground and in establishing its credibility with our teams and local partners.
Specifically, around twenty long-term unemployed individuals were trained for over a month in shoe manufacturing at our factory in Côte d'Ivoire. At the end of this program, they were permanently integrated into the company and now hold stable employment at the PANAFRICA factory.Beyond the numbers, these are trajectories that are changing. Skills that are taking root. And a first step towards structuring local industrial expertise that we want to establish for the long term.
OUR PARTNERS
We make products that make sense.
Meaning is transparency, it's listening, it's knowing the women and men with whom we work hand in hand, it's the pride of building a sustainable project with a positive impact, it's questioning our habits to move towards ever more committed and human fashion.
To create our collections, we work hand in hand with our talented partners who have become true companions along the way. They are at the heart of our project, and without them, nothing would be possible.
Since its creation in 1968, Uniwax has been the West African leader in wax printing. Its products, sold under the Uniwax and Woodin brands, are exported to more than ten countries in West and Central Africa. Uniwax uses different processes to produce its range of products. The fabrics are coated with wax then dyed with a specific process guaranteeing very high color fastness. From engraving copper cylinders to dye baths, over 20 steps are required to produce a design!
Uniwax has been Panafrica's historic partner since 2015. Every season, we go to Abidjan to select the most beautiful patterns for our collections. We are fortunate to work directly with Uniwax, which gives us great flexibility and the ability to personalize the selected designs to offer unique collections.
We met Esther and her team in 2019 and immediately fell under the spell of this talented and energetic lady.
It is in her small workshop north of Accra, Ghana's vibrant capital, that Esther, her daughter and their four employees bring original designs to life, perpetuating a well-known skill throughout the country: artisanal Batik printing.
Each piece they create is the result of meticulous attention and constantly renewed creativity.
Each season, we have the pleasure of working alongside them to develop new designs, which enrich and enhance our collections, blending tradition and modernity.
We purchase our organic cotton canvases from Xoomba in Burkina Faso. Xoomba is an association founded in 2009 to establish a complete organic cotton textile production chain (GOTS certified) in Burkina Faso. In Burkina, the rainfall allows the cultivation of excellent cotton without watering, while cotton cultivation usually consumes large quantities of drinking water. Burkina Faso also has the advantage of having all the means of cotton processing: ginning and spinning.
Xoomba carries out ecological dyeing of reactive fiber cotton without heavy metals and works with artisan weavers on mechanical looms that do not require electricity. Xoomba employs around 25 people (mainly women) who earn a salary above the average salary in Burkina. Xoomba also trains young designers to produce finished products made in Burkina so that maximum added value benefits the country's economy.
Since 2025, we have had the pleasure of collaborating with René and his small team in Bassam, not far from Abidjan.
In his open-air workshop, René perpetuates an ancestral savoir-faire that is the pride of the region. With patience and precision, he transforms each piece of fabric into an original work, where patterns and colors tell a story and reflect the richness of the local heritage.
His creativity and energy are infectious. Each season, we share with René the pleasure of creating new designs, blending tradition and modernity, so that each pair tells a little about his world and his expertise.
In addition to production at our own factory in Ivory Coast, we work with Hicham and his father in Morocco.
The relationship between Hicham's workshop and Panafrica dates back to our beginnings. When we first met in 2015, we immediately felt a pleasant atmosphere in this family workshop and a unique expertise guaranteeing high-quality products.
This workshop is certified by an external organization and complies with ILO regulations. This guarantees a code of social responsibility and ensures that PANAFRICA sneakers are manufactured in an environment where workers' rights are respected.
Since its creation in 1968, Uniwax has been the West African leader in wax printing. Its products, sold under the Uniwax and Woodin brands, are exported to more than ten countries in West and Central Africa. Uniwax uses different processes to produce its range of products. The fabrics are coated with wax then dyed with a specific process guaranteeing very high color fastness. From engraving copper cylinders to dye baths, over 20 steps are required to produce a design!
Uniwax has been Panafrica's historic partner since 2015. Every season, we go to Abidjan to select the most beautiful patterns for our collections. We are fortunate to work directly with Uniwax, which gives us great flexibility and the ability to personalize the selected designs to offer unique collections.
We met Esther and her team in 2019 and immediately fell under the spell of this talented and energetic lady.
It is in her small workshop north of Accra, Ghana's vibrant capital, that Esther, her daughter and their four employees bring original designs to life, perpetuating a well-known skill throughout the country: artisanal Batik printing.
Each piece they create is the result of meticulous attention and constantly renewed creativity.
Each season, we have the pleasure of working alongside them to develop new designs, which enrich and enhance our collections, blending tradition and modernity.
We purchase our organic cotton canvases from Xoomba in Burkina Faso. Xoomba is an association founded in 2009 to establish a complete organic cotton textile production chain (GOTS certified) in Burkina Faso. In Burkina, the rainfall allows the cultivation of excellent cotton without watering, while cotton cultivation usually consumes large quantities of drinking water. Burkina Faso also has the advantage of having all the means of cotton processing: ginning and spinning.
Xoomba carries out ecological dyeing of reactive fiber cotton without heavy metals and works with artisan weavers on mechanical looms that do not require electricity. Xoomba employs around 25 people (mainly women) who earn a salary above the average salary in Burkina. Xoomba also trains young designers to produce finished products made in Burkina so that maximum added value benefits the country's economy.
Since 2025, we have had the pleasure of collaborating with René and his small team in Bassam, not far from Abidjan.
In his open-air workshop, René perpetuates an ancestral savoir-faire that is the pride of the region. With patience and precision, he transforms each piece of fabric into an original work, where patterns and colors tell a story and reflect the richness of the local heritage.
His creativity and energy are infectious. Each season, we share with René the pleasure of creating new designs, blending tradition and modernity, so that each pair tells a little about his world and his expertise.
In addition to production at our own factory in Ivory Coast, we work with Hicham and his father in Morocco.
The relationship between Hicham's workshop and Panafrica dates back to our beginnings. When we first met in 2015, we immediately felt a pleasant atmosphere in this family workshop and a unique expertise guaranteeing high-quality products.
This workshop is certified by an external organization and complies with ILO regulations. This guarantees a code of social responsibility and ensures that PANAFRICA sneakers are manufactured in an environment where workers' rights are respected.
TRANSPARENCY
Transparency is at the heart of our project. We have worked without intermediaries since our beginnings and know the women and men who work behind each Panafrica product. This transparency is a daily requirement because we have a duty to tell you what we do, how and with whom.
Since 2016, we have been building a sustainable project and we have nothing to hide. At a time when ecology and ethics are on everyone's lips, our duty is to give you all the keys to understanding our project.
From cotton cultivation to our logistics warehouse, including our assembly workshops, PANAFRICA will no longer have any secrets for you...
Ivory Coast - the PANAFRICA factory
PANAFRICA FACTORY AND TRAINING CENTER
- In-house production workshop (Panafrica shoes Côte d'Ivoire) opening in 2026 in Abidjan
- Training center attached to the workshop: continuous training mainly for women and young people
- Skills transfer, creation of 50 direct jobs over the first 2 years
Morocco
Assembling the sneakers
- Workshop of Hicham and his father (122 employees including 30 women)
- 44 hours of weekly work on average (national average: 49 hours/
week) - Excellent working conditions according to the latest external audit report (salary
minimum, number of hours worked, 100% of employees under contract)
Ivory Coast - Wax and Batik Production Site
Wax and batik production site
- Uniwax based in Yopougon, West African leader in the printing of genuine wax prints
- Free healthcare for employees and their families
- Batik workshop based in Bassam managed by René
- Ancestral and artisanal technique in an open-air workshop
Ghana
Batik dyeing workshop
- Workshop of Esther and her daughter (4 employees)
- Traditional wax printing (foam or wooden stamps)
- All steps are carried out manually
Burkina Faso
Cotton weaving and dyeing
- Xoomba
- 25 employees in Bobo Dioulasso (most of whom are women)
- Power looms that do not require electricity
- Low Impact Dyeing and Wastewater Treatment
FRANCE
Logistics Warehouse
- Centralization of the entire PANAFRICA stock
- BtoB and BtoC shipments
Italy
Leather tanning
- Mastrotto company
- Semi-vegetable tanned leather
- LWG Gold rated label indicating compliance with safety standards, reduction of harmful substances for health and the environment, lower water and energy consumption