The diversity and quality of creative talent in Burkina Faso makes this African nation the perfect first stop for the !SYOU co-design crew. But rather than tell you about it, we’ve asked the BK guys to show you. This is about collaboration, after all.

Now you’ve seen the talent up close, check out the fruits of their labour. The first edition !SYOU Burkina Faso sneaker

After a local talent call in Burkina Faso, Butterfly Works selected Wilfried de Paul (artist), François Ouédraogo (photographer) and Ramata Soré (writer) as the very first !SYOU talents.

They will be participating in the !SYOU return model, giving their careers a boost and offering them an international platform where they can show off their talent. Read more about the !SYOU Return model here.

Amongst other materials our very first range of fresh !SYOU sneakers uses biological cotton sourced in Western Africa and woven in Burkina Faso. Through Biotex Afrika we were able to produce some amazing items, such as the laces in the !SYOUs and the little cotton bags they come in.

Another material we used in this range is braided recycled plastic. These are little plastic bags people pick up in the streets and turn into new objects such as little bags. We thought: why not put this in our sneakers!