About Living Ahava
Living Ahava is a small apparel and accessories brand based in Conyers, Georgia. We make clothing, jewelry, hair pieces, bags, and home goods that bring together two strands of our community: Christian faith and West African heritage. Pieces are designed to be worn every day, not put away for special occasions.
How it started
The brand started in a closet. Like a lot of small clothing businesses, the first batch was for a family member — a fanny pack in mud cloth fabric, made because the available options didn't reflect what we wanted to wear. Family members asked where it came from. Friends asked. By the time we'd made fifty of them, we'd registered the business and started designing more pieces.
The "Living Ahava" name carries two meanings for us. Ahava is a Hebrew word for love that appears throughout scripture; it's also a name our community has used to mark love that's grounded in something deeper than feeling. The brand name is a small act of carrying that double meaning into everyday wear.
What we make
The current collection covers:
- Apparel: tees, sweatshirts, hoodies, dresses for women, men, and kids. Faith-themed designs (with scripture references) alongside African-inspired pieces (with mud cloth, Kente cloth, and Adinkra patterns).
- Accessories: mud cloth fanny packs, tote bags, scarves, hair wraps, belts. The accessories are some of our most-ordered pieces — they're a way to bring a piece of the brand into a wardrobe without committing to a full apparel change.
- Jewelry: bracelets, earrings, and pendants — often featuring Adinkra symbols or scripture references engraved on the back.
- Home goods: a small line of cushion covers, throws, and wall pieces in our prints.
- Custom apparel: made-to-order pieces for individuals or church/community groups. Minimum order quantities vary by piece type.
Approach to the African-inspired pieces
We're a Black-owned American brand drawing on West African textile traditions. We try to do that with care:
- We name the tradition. Mud cloth (bògòlanfini) is from Mali. Kente cloth is from Ghana — specifically the Asante and Ewe peoples. Adinkra symbols are from the Akan tradition of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. We don't blur these into a generic "African" aesthetic.
- We source ethically where we can. Some of our mud cloth pieces use authentic Malian-produced cloth purchased through fair-trade partners. Most apparel is produced in the US with print designs inspired by the traditions; we're transparent about which is which on each product page.
- We don't reproduce ceremonial designs. Adinkra symbols have specific meanings; Kente cloth patterns sometimes mark specific social roles. We use the visual vocabulary thoughtfully and avoid designs reserved for specific community uses.
Approach to the faith pieces
The faith side of the brand is rooted in our Christian community. Scripture references on apparel are chosen carefully — verses we'd hand-stitch onto a piece for someone we know, not generic affirmation phrasing. The most-ordered scripture pieces draw from Isaiah 44:22, Psalm 139, and Matthew 19:14, among others.
We don't position the brand as evangelistic. The pieces are made for people whose faith is part of their daily life — wearable acknowledgment, not statement-making.
Where we make and ship
Design happens at home in Conyers. Apparel manufacturing is split between a small US-based partner (the print-on-demand pieces) and short runs we hand-produce for the limited collections (specifically the African-inspired one-off pieces). Every order ships from Conyers regardless of where it's made; we inspect each piece before packing.
Get in touch
Email [email protected] for orders, custom requests, wholesale enquiries, or to talk through a community-group order. Phone: (760) 807-1916. We're most active on Facebook and Instagram if you want to see day-to-day pieces.