Mali Chic, a boutique and an exporter of Malian ethnic products, was founded in 1998 by American designer Elaine Belleza, who trained her employees and local artisans in handcraft production and design. In 2006, Elaine gave the company to her five employees and opened a gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She regularly returns to Mali to lead product development workshops and create new product designs with Mali Chic artisans.

Today, Mali Chic has 14 employees and collaborates with over 195 member artisans. They sell their artisans’ products through a boutique in Bamako, Mali's capital, and through exports to the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australia. Mali Chic partners with USAID's West African Trade Hub and, through Aid to Artisans, a US NGO involved in development for Fair Trade producers, they provide exporting services to six artisan groups in Bamako, granting over 100 additional Malian artisans access to external markets.

They work closely with the artisans to produce high quality products which meet the stringent demands of international buyers. Mali Chic adheres to the fair trade principles of fair labor conditions and prices. Their artisans work from home, in their own workshops, or on-site at Mali Chic, and child labor is never used. They provide the artisans with 50% advances on all orders and pay a fair price for their products.

Bogolan Cloth Production

In past years the stark black and white designs of traditional bogolan had become, along with kente from Ghana, one of the better known African cloth traditions around the world. Bogolanfini - to give it its full name, which translates as "mud cloth" - is a long established tradition among the Bamana, a Mande speaking people who inhabit a large area to the east and north of Bamako in Mali. These days different shades of browns and other colours are used in contemporary bogolan cloth, and bogolan has gone from being an obscure if interesting local textile tradition to an internationally recognised symbol of African style. This surprising new role for bogolan has its roots with developments in Bamako involving local fine artists and fashion designers such as those involved with Mali Chic.

To begin the production of bogolan, the artisans boil leaves of a tree called “Ngalama”. They boil white cotton fabric in this solution three times, drying the fabric in the sun after each boiling. In addition to that, they collect mud from ponds and let it ferment in a sealed pot for a week or more. The liquid that comes out of this decayed mud is used to colour the cloth black - hence the term "mud cloth". The active ingredient in the mud dye is iron oxide, which is converted by tannic acid in the leaf solution into a fast dye of iron tannate. After three rounds of applying the mud and boiling in the leaf solution, the mud cloth is dried under the sun again before the mud is washed out, leaving just the black colour.

The artisans then complete their designs, using "secret recipes" of a variety of tree leaves to make the different colours. Once all the design process is ended, they wash the whole fabric and sun-dry again.

Moustapha Diop

Moustapha is a Malian artisan who has been making mud cloth since 1996. He recently married with a Malian woman who "sometimes helps him with advices and good ideas during his production". They have a daughter who is about 2 years old.

Moustapha started working with Mali Chic in 2004. At that time the organisation was called Mia Mali, with Elaine Bellezza as General Manager. He is very satisfied with his cooperation with all the staff of Mali Chic, who pay him a fair price, and always advance 50% of his payment to allow him to purchase raw materials. He says working with Mali Chic has contributed much to his marriage because they "lend money to him and the reimbursement is done in such a way that do not disturb his income".