Le Reflet is a clothing line designed and manufactured in Burundi with a dual focus on promoting sustainable community development as well as stunning, innovative fashion. The exquisite details and original flourishes that distinguish Le Reflet’s style are achieved through a marriage of these two values – the flawless execution of locally inspired designs and craftsmanship, and the embrace of ethical values at every stage of design and production.
Founded by Yvette Kaneza in 2012, the ready-to-wear line emphasizes the nuances of aesthetic beauty across time and space, drawing its inspiration from the fusion of different cultures and visions of elegance. While the designs are inspired principally by styles from across the African continent, elements from Western, Asian, and indigenous fashion also radiate from Le Reflet’s pieces: reflecting – as the line’s name suggests – details from the diverse world from which Kaneza draws her inspiration.
To produce her designs, Kaneza and her team work carefully to craft traditional east African materials into styles with modern aesthetics and sleek lines. Through this meticulous work, focused on economic and gender justice as much as on quality and innovation, Kaneza’s team produces their unique, limited collections that are both ecological and contemporary.
At Le Reflet, we firmly believe that sustainable economies are built upon the business pillars of equity, community, and ecological health. By relying on these guiding principles, we are able to offer products that respond to both the aesthetic and ethical ideals of our clients. To achieve this, Le Reflet offers fair wages to our employees and sources raw materials from the local market. By doing so, we can produce cutting edge products while contributing to the development of sustainable economic growth in Burundi.
Our tailors and sales teams are gender-balanced and many hail from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds. Le Reflet thus aspires to give some of Burundi’s most vulnerable citizens a living wage as well as a skillset to empower them for the future. Le Reflet also supports initiatives to create good jobs in other developing countries like Burundi. It is our hope that as our business expands globally, we will be able to employ more hardworking men and women in order to help them support their families.
Le Reflet, pioneer of avant-garde African fashion, was the first brand on the map in the burgeoning “Made in Burundi” ready-to-wear sector. Since 2016, Le Reflet has also expanded its regional presence through Uganda’s “Bold in Africa” fashion house. This first step into the regional market proved successful, and spurred a demand for Le Reflet products all over the world.
To meet the needs of our diverse client base, the team is working tirelessly to open the online store so that our styles will be accessible to clients anywhere in the world. So voilà! In Janvier 2020, Le Reflet will launch its online boutique for the first time. The whole Le Reflet team says “murakoze” (“thank you” in Kirundi) – it’s thanks to you that Le Reflet exists today.
“Le Reflet ensures your elegance, with confidence.”
Learn More About Yvette Kaneza!
Yvette Kaneza, a Burundian entrepreneur with refined taste and audacious dreams, weaves her three passions – for fashion, entrepreneurship, and humanitarian aid – into her work every day.
Driven by a desire to uplift herself and her family through financial autonomy, Kaneza launched herself at a young age into the business world with her now-iconic African fashion line, Le Reflet. The trailblazing Burundian designer does not only aspire to produce cutting edge fashion; she also works to mitigate the poverty and unemployment endemic in her country by creating good jobs for dozens of local residents.
Since childhood, Yvette loved modifying her clothing by adding personal touches and flourishes to simple pieces she had bought. This habit quickly caught the attention of her close friends and family, who quickly began to solicit her fashion advice and expertise.
Aware of her artistic and creative potential, Kaneza thus nurtured a sole passion for years: to launch her own clothing line as soon as she could afford it. In 2012, that vision became a reality. Yvette began to actualize her vision, offering – for the first time – a full collection of her designs to the public. With that inaugural line of clothing, “Le Reflet” was born. In the days and months that followed, Le Reflet has consistently attracted new clients and generated more and more buzz – in East Africa and beyond – as more people are attracted to the collection’s originality and timeless elegance.
Since Le Reflet’s beginning, Kaneza has participated in numerous fashion shows in Burundi as well as neighboring countries. On each of these occasions, she has captivated the public with original styles and rich colors, combining playful details with seamlessly executed designs to shift and expand her audience’s expectations of what truly constitutes “la haute couture.”
In one expression of her ongoing desire to contribute to a better and more inclusive world, Kaneza organized a runway show in December 2013, showcasing her creations in a breathtaking cast of exclusively hearing-impaired models.
Through this and other charitable activities directed towards the most vulnerable, Kaneza hopes to educate her community about the importance of integrating people with disabilities to achieve a broader and healthier socioeconomic growth.
A self-taught seamstress, designer, and fashion visionary, Yvette Kaneza is committed to promoting community, inclusion, and of course, Burundian fashion, all over the world.
