Meet Muyinza, the Austin Brand Handcrafting Sustainable Fashion in Uganda

Any seasoned thrifter knows the thrill of the hunt is half of the fun — not knowing if you may discover a designer jacket or a pair of classic Levis when sifting through the discarded fashion of yore. In the fall of 2024, wardrobe stylist Drake Muyinza had a similar mindset when visiting his homeland of Uganda, where he routinely prowled the Owino Market, the largest in the country, for pieces for his vintage shop in Austin. However, what he stumbled upon wasn’t a rare clothing item, but a business plan.

Started from a love for vintage clothes and slow fashion, Muyinza is Austin’s newest brand for clothing sourced sustainably and crafted with care, with April 2026 marking its first launch. Handmade in Uganda, the brand pulls from the country’s enthusiasm for environmentally-friendly fashion and inimitable style. Muyinza can be found at pop-ups across Austin, the dates and locations of which can be found @muyinza__ on Instagram.

Drake and Roy Muyinza met in 2015 at college in Minneapolis and were later married. Their complementary skills of wardrobe stylization and photography make running a clothing company nearly organic. Of course, the process is far from effortless. Every batch of Muyinza clothes includes several steps: the couple flies out to Kampala, Uganda; source fabric with potential at sprawling textile markets and send it to sewists who transform the thrifted material into finished pieces. Back in Austin, artist Kenny Pursley of Cousin Kenny’s embroiders the signature “Muyinza” label. The result is hand-made, sustainably sourced pieces ready to be sold at local pop-up markets. In addition to paying the sewists a fair wage, the Muyinzas employ and photograph Ugandan models while overseas, another way of bringing what Roy calls “economic empowerment back to the makers.”

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No two Muyinza pieces are exactly alike, a result of the brand’s hand-sewn, one-off construction. (Photo by Roy Muyinza)

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Muyinza’s designs draw on academic influences, from 1970s geometric prints to East Coast prep. (Photo by Roy Muyinza)

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Most Muyinza pieces are designed to be unisex, with some leaning slightly masculine or feminine. (Photo by Roy Muyinza)

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Sewist Sylivia Nabaggala leads the team that transforms thrifted fabric into Muyinza’s finished pieces. (Photo by Roy Muyinza)

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The rewashed, well-worn quality of Ugandan school clothing inspired Muyinza’s approach to durability. (Photo by Roy Muyinza)

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Every piece starts as discarded fabric before being reshaped into cropped jackets and old-school silhouettes. (Photo by Roy Muyinza)

No two alike

Every step — down to personally selecting the fabric — is imbued with intention and a commitment to quality, and no two pieces are exactly the same. While all feel slightly academic in influence, some pieces are reminiscent of funky, geometric prints of the 1970s, while others evoke an old-money East Coast style. Most pieces are unisex, although some skew slightly more masculine or feminine. Similar to the process of thrifting a vintage gem, the irreplicability of Muyinza’s pieces is part of the charm.

In 2017, when Drake moved to Austin, his innate gift for thrifting translated into more than an eye-catching personal style — soon, friends started hiring him to shop for them. Thus, around 2020, he began his career as a wardrobe stylist while running vintage pop-ups on the side. While visiting Uganda, he would thrift at their markets and bring back his best finds to Austin. During one trip, in September of 2024, he was struggling to find pieces, but he noticed an abundance of bedsheets and curtains, most still in excellent condition. “I didn’t find anything. But I found some fabric,” he said. He reached out to his cousin and sewist Sylivia Nabaggala, who fashioned a shirt for him and, without knowing it, planted an idea in his head.

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Finished pieces bears the embroidered “Muyinza” label, added by Austin artist Kenny Pursley. (Photo by Nick Cabrera)

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A finished Muyinza piece reflects the irreplicability that made Drake Muyinza a lifelong thrifter. (Photo by Nick Cabrera)

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A close look at Muyinza’s construction. (Photo by Nick Cabrera)

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Fabric sourced at Kampala’s textile markets is sent to a team of local sewists before becoming a finished piece. (Photo by Nick Cabrera)

Made for longevity

After employing a team of more than a dozen local sewists headed by Nabaggala — trained to create Ugandan boarding school uniforms — the Muyinzas started experimenting with different cuts and styles, like old-school jackets and cropped items. As opposed to being made for only a few wears, Ugandan school clothes are typically built for longevity, durability and rewashes that make pieces more comfortable over time. With the Muyinzas’ knowledge, this tried-and-true technique was carried over to their first batch of pieces, and the stark contrast in quality drew immediate attention at Austin markets.

After a couple of years and a return trip to Uganda, the Muyinzas had their first launch this April. A barrage of friends, family and locals came out to support the Muyinzas. Roy said Austin proved to be the perfect place to start their business — a result of the thriving vintage scene, creative energy and enthusiasm of small business owners to support one another. “There’s something going on all the time, and that’s what enables people to start small businesses without having a brick and mortar,” Roy said.

Muyinza is still in its early days, and as it is with starting any business, Drake and Roy still have plenty to iron out. Armed with the openness that successful thrifting requires, they can’t wait to discover what the future holds — be that selling wholesale at local boutiques or expanding their size and style offerings. However, Drake and Roy said the heart of the business — moving away from cheap, one-time wears and toward fashion with heart and bespoke craftsmanship — will never change.

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