The African Fabric Shop - The Journey Continues

Aim

We would like our online shop to be as inspirational & joyous as our physical shop. With recommendations, customer creations & a search bar!

Who are we?

We are Wally and Jenny. Husband and wife. Proud Gambian and adventurous Brit. Owners of The African Fabric Shop Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire. We specialise in hand dyed, hand crafted, unique fabrics and beads sourced from talented artisans and craftsmen across Africa.

Along side the physical shop in Slaithwaite, we have a dedicated following online and sell via our website africanfabric.co.uk which we would like to upgrade to a better, more efficient system ensuring we can continue to offer our customers a pleasurable shopping experience that will inspire creativity and connect a community.

So how did we get here?

We bought The African Fabric Shop from the founders Magie & Bob back in 2024. For over 40 years they had travelled around Africa, meeting local crafts people, sourcing fabrics and setting up supply chains. So when they decided it was time to slow down and pass the business on, we put our hands up!

After all how could we not? We met through them, Jenny was Magie and Bob's right hand woman for 6 years and Wally's family have been supplying them with hand dyed fabric for the past 20, so buying the business and continuing The African Fabric Shop legacy was the natural progression for us.

We had our daughter a month after taking over. A year later we moved the shop to our home village of Slaithwaite in West Yorkshire. 

Having a dedicated space to run workshops alongside regular opening hours means there is even more opportunity for our customers to visit. We love it! Talking textiles, adventures in Africa and inspiring crafty folk. After all there is no better way to buy textiles than through touch. 

However, Magie & Bob worked hard travelling around the UK selling at shows to ensure that The African Fabric Shop gained fans across the country. So the majority of our loyal customer base do not live around the corner. Which is why we would like to upgrade the website so our online customers feel like they just walked through the shop door! 

Why upgrade the website now?

Our current developer is looking to retire next year. He and Bob designed the site from scratch 10 years ago and it has served our customers well over the years. But technology has moved on and we believe now is the time for an upgrade.

Rather than expose ourselves to prohibitive bank loan costs, we would prefer to work with our community and offer a crowdfunding reward scheme to raise funds. After all crowdfunding simply fits with our ethos of community support and rewarding those who continue to support us.

Where will the money be spent?

£10,000 is the target!

£1,000 will go towards fees for Crowdfunder UK. We don't mind. Charging businesses like ours fees, means they are able to offer zero fees to charities and other non-profit organisations.

£7,800 will go towards the website. A fresh new look, all the aforementioned upgrades plus more.

£1,200 will hopefully get us some official shop signage. We currently have a fig tree (named Miss. Figgy) and a chalk board.

And if we raise more? Well it will go on ordering new stock!

Why support a business like ours?

Supporting us in this way will help free up the money generated through sales to purchase more products from our artisans and traders in Africa.

People like Esther, Grace and Yaya. All batik artists in Ghana.

Pru and her talented team of dyers at Langa Lapu in South Africa. 

Kwasi our trusted kente dealer who has bags full of old Kente fragments. 

Eric our fabulous friend who sources our Bogolan cloths from Mali. 

Oklah, just one of the amazing glass bead makers in Koforidua, Ghana. 

Sandra and the Kudhinda team in Zimbabwe. 

Christine and Kennedy producing beautiful embroideries and hand carved bone beads in Kenya. 

Our dedicated indigo dyer, Musa, in The Gambia. 

Plus many, many, many, local traders we deal with along the way.

We really hope together, we can make this happen. Push our small business to the next level, continue a legacy and carve our own path.

Thank you in advance for all your support. Just reading our story is enough. Whether you donate, pledge or talk about us to your stitching group. It all helps!

In the words of The African Fabric Shop founder Bob....onwards!

Thanks, 

Jenny & Wally

Full terms and conditions related to our Crowdfunder rewards can be found on our website via this link. africanfabric.co.uk/termsandconditions

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 12th October 2026 at 11:55pm