African couture
San Luis Obispo now has some Ethiopian flair in its wardrobe of downtown boutiques.
The newly opened storefront at 1065 Higuera St. is the first retail location for Vancouver, Wash.-based Konjo Ababa, which designs and imports high-end, fair-trade handbags from Ethiopia.
Owner and founder Thomas Meister is a former fashion model and photographer who went on to become an independent stock broker and commodities trader for a number of years. His love of fashion and his business sense culminated in the Ethiopian handbag business, which employs about 320 people in Africa and five in the U.S.
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