By Chudi Ozokafor
Fashion as an industry is made up of many unique sectors, everyone different from the other and each in its own category and with its own function. They work together seamlessly to create a hub to churn out the creativity of designers be it couture or apparel, straight onto the backs of consumers.
Mainly the industry is meant to be divided into the design and creative aspect and the sales and retail aspect. In Nigeria we have the design and creative aspect pretty much on lock down but the sales and retail distribution aspect not so much, these aspects are almost non existent and the only thing we do have here are independent stores. which only display the shop owners pieces in most cases. Although we do have a few stores that stock different indigenous local designers we do not have nearly enough platforms for sales and distribution in Nigeria.
The couture vs apparel argument. Africa is the continent which has the largest population of young people (between the age of 16 and 30), these are guys that on average probably cannot afford to buy that ₦50,000 ($270) to ₦1 million ($5,500) piece of couture. Good business strategy would dictate that designers and big money would rush to cater to this large sector of the market. In most cases this class of Nigerians are content with going into the local roadside market and buying reproductions and fakes of international designers clothes. Whereas in the western world, anybody can walk into a mall and find something original that fits their pocket and budget. Take South Africa for example, you could walk into any large mall and find stores for everybody. For those that can afford it you have big names like Gucci or Zara, Prada, Givenchy e.t.c and for those who can’t you have stores like Mr price, Edgars, Superdry, Woolworth’s e.t.c so there’s no need for roadside markets or buying fakes or reproductions. if you can’t afford that Hermes belt you can get a cheaper Edgars alternative.
To the best of my knowledge Nigeria does not till date have an indigenous massive retail ready to wear clothing store, the likes of H&M, Harrods, Mr price e.t.c where designers can display and sell their ready to wear pieces. Online retail stores like ASOS or 6PM are also virtually nonexistent although Jumia through its deal with Genevieve is taking steps to fill that gab albeit on a smaller scale. We do have some foreign retail stores that have created a presence in Nigeria like Mr price, mango, max, Levis and a few others. This begs the question where are Nigerians and what are we doing.
Cover Image by parralag.com
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