By Peter Sinkamba

BULUKWE: WHY IT IS THE NAME USED FOR TROUSERS

In the morning I posed a question why a pair of trousers is called “bulukwe” in Tonga, Lozi, Tumbuka and several other languages in Zambia and elsewhere. Several attempts were made but none got it right.

The name comes from Brooks Brothers, founded in Manhattan, New York City in 1818. This is the oldest clothing brand in continuous operation in America to date.

Originally a family business, Brooks Brothers has been producing clothing for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings, distributed across the world including Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa and Nyasaland.

Civil servants in colonial times ordered, via catalogue, trousers from Brooks Brothers, which they wore after work when they went to taverns, bars and other social events.

“I am wearing Brooks,” they would brag.

And that’s it. Trousers became known as “bulukwe”.

And that is how Africa popularized the one of the brand’s creative collections… the Brooks Brother Trouser!

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