Our story
Maleo is a love story between
African colors and Western enterprise.
We not only make the most eccentric and colorful shirts around.
We empower our tailors through training and sustainable job creation.
Discovering the designs
Finding these unique designs and turning them into clothes didn’t happen overnight.
It started with a chance discovery. While travelling in West Africa, our co-founder embarked on an impromptu hitchhiking adventure that led to the discovery of these funky patterns worn in the sun-baked fields of Senegal.
When our eyes first fell on these colours and designs, we knew we had to bring this beauty to our home, to share it with our friends and the rest of the world.
It took a lot of hard work (and a lot of mistakes) to bring the brightest, boldest, and most vivid shirts to your wardrobe.
Making the shirts
We teamed with Senegalese locals to turn these patterns into high-quality and durable shirts.
This way, we cut out the middleman and get money directly into the hands of our tailors in Africa.
The tailors
Each individual Maleo shirt is handmade with the care and precision by the expert tailors of the Wolof and Pular Tribe – from the streets of Dakar to the remote northern regions.
We are constantly working to create jobs for locals and invest in positive community transformation.
In an age of mass production, we value uniqueness and originality.
Unique shirts
This is why we make many unique pieces: no one else in the world will wear the same party shirt you have.
We strive to make three or less shirts for each design.
Festival fashion
Wear the shirt proudly. Wear it while jumping into a pool at a party (it's waterproof), dance in it in front row at an open air festival, and make everyone's eyes turn while you walk down the street.
Our logo
The curly animal you see in our logo is a Chameleon.
While most people think they change colors to camouflage, these rare animals actually paint their skin with dazzling colors to express their emotions and communicate with those around them.
