Hot Pants, Cool Planet

At Amaari, we approach sustainability not as a trend, but as a return to practices that are rooted, intentional, and effective. The journey of each piece begins long before it’s worn. And continues long after.

It begins with cotton.

Grown in regions like Lamu, Kitui, Makueni, and Kisumu, the cotton is cultivated much like it always has been—by hand, with care, and in rhythm with the land.

The cotton travels to Nairobi, where it’s spun and woven into kikoy—a textile that has moved through centuries of exchange, from Arab trade routes to East African tailoring traditions. Kikoy is woven, not dyed. That distinction matters.

The stripes you see aren’t printed—they’re placed on the loom, colour by colour. Setting up the loom takes time. But it’s this method that gives kikoy its weight and structure without the need for chemical dyeing or water-intensive processing. The result is a fabric that holds its story, wash after wash.

From fabric to form.

Once woven, the kikoy is cut and sewn in small batches. Our pieces are considered and our runs are intentionally limited. We design for wearability—for trousers that move through different lives and seasons without losing relevance.

Because the process is human-scale, it leaves room to be thoughtful. Nothing is wasted. Offcuts from production are repurposed into sanitary pad liners and household cloths. Cotton waste from spinning becomes cotton wool or reusable sanitary pads. These aren’t afterthoughts. They’re part of the design.

Every stage of our process is built on relationships—with farmers, with artisans, with places. The aim isn’t novelty, but continuity. Materials that last. Clothes that live well. A system that respects the land and the people who shape it.

This is sustainability as we understand it: local, considered, and enduring.