Partner Profile: Alassane Dioum and Singare Ndiaye

Singare Ndiaye (L) and Alassane Dioum (R) in our workshop in Ouakam, Dakar.

We're really excited to introduce you to Singare Ndiaye and Alassane Dioum, the artisans behind the garments which feature in our 2016 collection. Singare and Alou worked tirelessly to create the garments in a small atelier in Ouakam, nestled in the north of Dakar.

Singare and Alou are great emerging talents, with both having only worked in the field of tailoring for a short time. Both Singare and Alou would travel over 30 kilometres everyday from their suburb of Thiaroye into the centre of Dakar to work with us.

We're incredibly thankful to both Alou and Singare for their hardwork, friendship and support - including lots of trips to the markets to source the best buttons and zips in Dakar, and lots of hours patiently working with Cara to design and create samples upon samples as we developed the range.

Singare and his Impec (short for 'impeccable'!) foot-pedal sewing machine.

Working openly and transparently with local artisans was a key part of our vision for this collection. We were lucky to meet Singare and Alou through our dear friend Anne-Marie Diatta, and really valued working with such talented and engaged tailors. Both Alou and Singare became part of the Madame Tây team easily, and both quickly understood our vision for the brand and what we were trying to bring to the Australian market.

Both Singare and Alou dedicated themselves to Madame Tây despite already having full-time tailoring jobs, and worked tirelessly to finish the garments to production deadlines. We worked closely with both Singare and Alou to fix price points on each garments, and we paid them what they deemed a good price for their design input and labour, always ensuring to pay them for any overtime they did.

Alou and Singare are both still working in Dakar. If you're in Dakar and looking for some talented tailors, please drop us a line - we'd be happy to pass on their contact details.

Alou with some of the beautiful indigo dyed cotton we used in this collection.

Alou carefully measures out a Wax Print Pencil Skirt.

If you'd like to provide any feedback to Singare and Alou about the garments and their handiwork, please drop us a line at enquiries@madametay.com and we'll gladly forward it to them. They'd love to hear from you! 

Cara with Alou and Singare the workshop.