diff -Naur a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py	2019-01-06 12:12:16.000000000 +0000
+++ b/setup.py	2019-01-08 23:04:45.574698210 +0000
@@ -197,12 +197,13 @@
 
 def _pkg_config(name):
     try:
+        command = os.environ.get('PKG_CONFIG', 'pkg-config')
         command_libs = [
-            'pkg-config',
+            command,
             '--libs-only-L', name,
         ]
         command_cflags = [
-            'pkg-config',
+            command,
             '--cflags-only-I', name,
         ]
         if not DEBUG:
@@ -298,7 +299,7 @@
         _add_directory(include_dirs, "src/libImaging")
 
         pkg_config = None
-        if _cmd_exists('pkg-config'):
+        if _cmd_exists(os.environ.get('PKG_CONFIG', 'pkg-config')):
             pkg_config = _pkg_config
 
         #