Page 27 - April-June 2024 Edition

| SECOND-HAND TO HIGH FASHION FEATURE
By Praise Mugisha - Press Manager
BUZIGAHILL

RETURN TO SENDER

DIARY Dick & Rosie Stockley
In a defiant mission titled RETURN TO SENDER, BUZIGAHILL transforms second-hand garments
into high fashion and redistributes them to their origins in the Global North. As a purpose-driven,
green company working towards a circular economy, BUZIGAHILL operates between fashion,
art, education, and activism to mitigate the environmental impact of fast fashion production
and to create sustainable, fulfilling jobs in Uganda.
In this diary, specially compiled and adapted for The Eye, BUZIGAHILL shares excerpts from their
newsletters from Kampala, with stories from the behind the scenes and features of inspiring
projects from within their community.
30.07.2023: THE STUDIO
This time last year, when we moved out of Bobby’s living room into our studio, we were a team
of six. We’re now 13 and packing our bags again because we’ve outgrown the apartment
we’re renting above Walusimbi’s Garage on Dewinton Road.
A special shout-out to Desire, our Studio-Wellbeing Manager, whose name obviously befits the
job. Desire keeps us all organised, well-fed and hydrated. The one voice you will always hear at
the studio is her’s, often on the phone trying to find out what happened to the internet.
30.07.2023: SELFRIDGES
One of our recent highlights was DROP 04 at the Lagos Fashion Week pop up at Selfridges. For
the first time, RETURN TO SENDER was physically available in London, on Oxford Street. It was just
after coronation weekend, Union Jacks fluttered from everywhere. Of course, we’re no
strangers to the flag — it’s printed on the labels in bales we receive from the UK.

We went back to London for DROP05 a month later and released it with our friends at HAUS, a
vinyl-coffee-plant shop in Brixton (ask for Simone’s life-changing mushroom tea). Thanks for the
music Josh Caffé, Leala Rain and DJ Mapengo.

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