The Arsenal Football Club released an official promotional advert showcasing their 2024/2025 away kit featuring major parts in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The making of the advert also involved other Sierra Leonean creatives, which include videographer, visual storyteller, and models.
Arsenal revealed that the purpose of the kit is to honour their relationship with their African fans by drawing inspiration from the continent’s rich history of design. The design also has the classic pan-African hues of red, green, and black. The eye-catching white zig-zag pattern on the shirt was designed by Foday Dumbuya himself.
Labrum London is a fashion design brand owned by UK-based Sierra Leonean Foday Dumbuya. He founded Labrum London in 2014.
According to him, the brand was launched with the aim of sharing the untold stories of West Africa to help bridge the gap between Western and Eastern Africa.
In May 2023, Labrum was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth Award organised by the British Fashion council. The award was presented to him by His Majesty King Charles III.
One of Labrum’s biggest collaborations is with Top Boy Netflix and Hackey Wick FC. Top Boy is a crime series on Netflix.
Labrum also collaborated with one of the world’s leading beverage brands, Guinness, for a summer capsule collection in 2023.
As part of his effort to push the West African narrative, Labrum London presented the KOFTAR MATA installation at the Copenhagen International Fair (CIFF). This, according to him, was inspired by a dye pit in KOFAR MATA, Kano, which produces beautiful fabrics using ancient techniques. These fabrics are known for their beautiful, vibrant colours and are made with dye, and they are mostly found in West African countries like Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea, Mali, etc. In Sierra Leone, these fabrics are referred to as gara.
In 2020, Labrum London has also collaborated with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Sports to brand the National Team’s sport kits for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The kits included jerseys, footwear, socks, etc.