Chère Collègue is a collaboration between Eliza Squibb, a textile designer based in Providence, RI, and Issa Oumarou Yacouba, founder of Batik Without Borders in Niamey, Niger.

We create timeless garments and accessories using our textile designs as well as vintage fabrics imbued with long histories of tradition and techniques from West Africa like batik stamping, strip-weaving, and natural indigo dyeing.

Our jackets are made from vintage strip-woven West African fabrics from Burkina Faso and Niger (Mossi & Kounta textiles) as well as indigo-dyed fabrics from Guinea (Lépi textiles).
Eliza designs and tailors the jackets while Issa does the dyeing.

For each collection of scarves, we develop new motifs exploring natural imagery, which we produce with artisan wood carvers to create batik stamps. Both Eliza & Issa create the batik-printed scarves. Together, we showcase traditional techniques with a modern twist and provide economic opportunities to the artisan communities we work with.

We aim to increase appreciation for West African textile heritage among a broader audience while creating modern garments that give vintage textiles a new life.

Photography by Dominique Sindayiganza.