Lulit’s handwoven was founded in 2015 and Lulit Sahle-Michae is the owner and creative director of Lulit’s Handwoven clothing and accessory shop.
After obtaining her fashion and marketing BA in London, and working at various fashion and textile companies in France (including Mahlia Kent in Paris where she discovered her passion for the art of handweaving), she then returned home to Ethiopia with the hope of establishing her own footprint in the Ethiopian fashion and textile industry . One that would also have a positive input on local communities and the environment.
Lulit was born in Germany and growing up she travelled extensively and lived in Europe for a number of years so consequently she was influenced by many different cultures.
As a child Lulit recalls enjoying drawing girls with different clothes on as well as painting.
After her education, Lulit, learned how to handweave with modern 4, 8 and 16 shafts in both Addis Abeba and Paris. The traditional weaving looms in Ethiopia are made of 2 shafts, which means that creating different patterns and designs is very time consuming. The more shafts you have on a weaving loom the more patterns can be created by using the pedals plus it saves a lot of time. “I saw this as an opportunity to introduce something new to the ethiopian handweaving sector”. Lulit’s handwoven has taken part in an 8-shaft weaving training held by Giz and we’re now ready to start creating unique pieces using this method. When we started, our aim was to focus on sustainability and produce high quality export standard pieces. What’s important to us is that everyone in this company gets their fair share and to grow together with the company. With that in mind we have a bonus system and wages of all employees grow every 6 months. We offer flexible work hours for employees, so that they can study alongside working”.
Another aspect of Lulits is that they specialize in is plant dyeing using plant dyes on many of their product ranges. The workshop is based in Legetafo, where all the weaving and dyeing and some finishing work is done. The sewing takes place in the Shola workshop as well as final touches to make each product such as personalised baby gabis with hand embroidered names and images of an animal for example (popular for baby showers, christening or birthday gifts).
Lulits imports top quality fibers not available on the ethiopian market such as wool, bamboo and linen, and uses them to weave their fabrics.
Lulit’s handwoven has been affected by the corona crisis, like most small businesses in the creative sector, but they are catching up as things are slowly returning to normal.
Mon-Sat 9:5pm – Shola Megenagna (Next To Sumeya Mosque, Kenenisa St) – Call 096 730 4928
Lulit’s Handwoven fashion and home Accessories on Facebook
The product range includes clothing for men and women, scarves and shawls, throws and gabis for adults and children, home decor items like cushion covers, curtains, table runners and wall hangings.
