The best fashion and gift stores Addis Ababa

The Chiromeda handicrafts market, just outside Addis Ababa on the Entoto road, is the capital's most well-stocked and least expensive market for traditional Ethiopian hand-made textiles: you'll find the famous white cotton dresses from various regions, embroidered with a variety of colors, bedspreads, traditional fabrics of all kinds, stoles, trinkets and so on. The best thing to do is store around and negotiate prices once you've chosen your items. Scarves are particularly beautiful.

If you're in the Kazanchis district, be sure to pay a visit to this superb textile boutique. At Sabahar, the natural materials used in traditional crafts take pride of place, as do the age-old techniques of weaving. Cotton, silk and linen are the raw materials. The pieces are contemporary, but with a beautiful Ethiopian DNA. The brand is ethical and sustainable, with pieces made by self-sufficient craftswomen and fair revenues.

Here's an Ethiopian designer brand that's well worth a visit to its concept store and café in Bole. Here, top-quality, locally harvested leather is combined with Ethiopian know-how and modern techniques to create stunning handbags. The brand employs women artisans (paid three times more than normal) and displays all the ethical and sustainability criteria you'd expect from such a project. The boutique also offers textiles, jewelry, accessories, furniture, wall hangings..