Fashion Business Africa had the pleasure of speaking with Linda Igwe-Ogbonnaya the creative director of Ady By Linda, a Nigerian clothing brand. She gives us the inside story on her brand and has a piece of advice for upcoming designers.
FBA: Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?
ABL: My name is Linda Igwe-Ogbonnaya. I am the creative director of a female clothing brand Ady By Linda.
FBA: So how did you get into designing and how did that lead into creating your own fashion line?
ABL: I’ll say designing has been in me, my mother used to be a fashion designer so right from when I was little I’ve always had a passion for fashion designing. I literally deconstruct my clothes to reconstruct them, so when i was in school I used to work with people that groom models for fashion shows and beauty pageants in school. So i would always help in designing of their clothes, eventually I’m like if I’m good in this why don’t I go into it.
FBA: So we just saw your last collection and it was really good, what inspired that collection?
ABL: Thank you, that collection was inspired actually by my future daughter because the theme of the collection is Amira meaning beautiful princess. That’s the name I wanted to name my first issue if it had been a girl. I have two boys so I just made the collection after the name.
FBA: What inspired the name for your brand?
ABL: Okay my native name is Adaeze and when i was little they used to call me ‘Ady’, so when I was looking for a name to give my brand my husband just brought the idea of ‘Ady’ and I was like that’s nice.
FBA: What about your clothes appeals to people? Why do you think people buy them?
ABL: If I should say so, I know I’ve heard a lot of comments about how well detailed and tailored my clothes are. If you see my pieces they’re well tailored and cleanly finished. I do dresses so well some of my clients tell me that i have a thing with dresses and pants as well.
FBA: How do you measure the success of your brand, how do you know you’re a successful business?
ABL: I know I’m a successful person by the comments I see and hear from people and how well I get clients on a daily basis . Since I came from Port Harcout (I’m not based here), I know the number of customers that have called me. So with this you know you’re moving forward and that your business is growing.
FBA: How do you reduce cost while maintaining a sizable profit margin?
ABL: Right now I work from home, I started little but then by this year I wanted to open up an outlet because I started getting a lot of clients. But since I’m moving to Lagos in two months time, I decided to stay back home, but I have workers that help me.
FBA: Is this your first collection?
ABL: No, its not my first collection I’ve done a couple of collections.
FBA: What number is this?
ABL: This is my third collection
FBA: On the production side you hire tailors or you do all the tailoring yourself?
ABL: I have a tailor, the whole thing was done by both of us. And i have a male tailor that helps us once in a while when we have shows because i have to meet up with the collection and clients work. Coincidentally my sister in law had her wedding last two months and her white wedding is coming up on the 30th. I made her dress and the workload was too much for me, so i mainly do the cutting and they help me put them together. I supervise them while they work.
FBA: Your materials do you source them locally?
ABL: Sure I source everything I use locally for now from Lagos and Port Harcout.
FBA: What is the target demographic for your brand, what age are your clothes for?
ABL: The ages of 25 and above.
FBA: Would you consider your brand premium or mass market, is it ready to wear or bespoke?
ABL: I do both. I do bespoke and ready to wear and most of my bespoke are luxury.
FBA: What is your growth strategy for your brand?
ABL: I’m planning to do a lot of work, rebranding and all that by the time I relocate to Lagos because what fashion is back there, it’s times two here. So I have to really up my game and put more effort in what I’m doing. It involves some branding pr people to help me.
FBA: Right now you don’t have a business manager and a brand PR?
ABL: Like now for this show i involved Ebere, she’s a stylist, she styled this collection.
FBA: Where do you see your business in 5 years?
ABL: International, like last year i was meant to do a show in Germany, Fashion Days Grow, that’s the name of the organisers. The show was ready, the clothes were ready, sent the invites and everything but due to family issues I was not able to go that was the last collection I had before this one. Because, I payed for the show, they moved my turn to this year eventually by November this year I’ll be in Germany.
FBA: That’s amazing
ABL: Thank you.
FBA: What advice would you give to upcoming designers that are trying to follow in your footsteps?
ABL: One thing for sure is know the business, so many people these days they don’t know what fashion is all about, they don’t know the A-Z of fashion but they want to be designers they have to atleast try and know what designing is all about. Do you know how to sew? These days you don’t have to know how to sew before you become a designer just bring your sketches, your designs and give them out to people. Most of them disappoint you but when you know the work nobody can rubbish you. Take for instance I came into Lagos on Tuesday my fitting was on Wednesday half of my clothes were big on the models because they told me to make for size 8 but most of them were size 6. If I didn’t know what I was doing, the show would have been a flop. I spent the whole of Thursday and Friday working on the pieces. Luckily enough I had a designer friend I was staying with so I used her machine and we mended all the clothes. I was glad everything was in perfect fit.
fbafricadotcom.wordpress.com 