By Yemi Olakitan
Adebola Fayemi is the CEO of Fayemz, a fashion label that has become a household name in the Nigerian fashion industry. The fayemz fashion company is known locally and internationally as a top rated African fashion label. A graduate of Graphic Arts from the Federal Polytechnic, Ibadan, Fayemi has spent most of his life as a fashion designer, having invested more than 20 years in the sector. His designs cut across different age groups and he caters to the clothing needs of the average urban middle and upper class Nigerian. In this interview with Yemi Olakitan, he speaks on challenges facing the Nigerian fashion sector among other issues. Excerpts
The early Days
I worked with an advertising agency before I decided to start a fashion Company. I left the advertising industry because fashion has always intrigued me and I know that I can do some great things there. The reason why I went into advertising was because I studied Graphics Arts and that is the place where we are most needed. On the other hand, fashion was an entrepreneurial calling. One of the challenges of the early days was the high turn over of staff because a lot of young people are not always patient and relaxed enough to learn. They are always looking for greener pastures.
His fashion shows
We had a show focusing on children fashion recently. It was a fashion show hosted by a school. We were able to showcase some of our designs using children models. It was great. The children modeled throughout. I decided to pay some attention to children designs because I realize that even the kids need to look good. The parents and the kids had so much fun and everybody felt great. This day, it is no longer an uncommon thing for kids to participate in fashion shows. It looks good and it adds another perspective to the show. We are always creating new designs every now and then. We made clothes for children as well as adults and we are planning other shows very soon to build the Fayemz brand further. The children fashion show was meant to sensitize the public on the different styles and designs on the Fayemz fashion label. We have designs for everyone, both young and old but that show was targeting the kids.
However, fayemz will be having a fashion show that will showcase all our fashion designs before this year run out. We are gong to have another early next year as well. Preparations are in top gear. I assure you.
Challenges in the industry.
The major challenge that we face in the industry concerns the lack of basic infrastructure particularly inadequate power supply. The other one is the harsh economic realities. What affects me the most as a designer is power. I donate half of my income to power generation. We are on diesel all the time. We are sitting down now here in this office. Lights can go off at any time and we have to run the generator on diesel and this costs money. I mean, you have the consciousness that lights may go off in the next four or five minutes. I know that there are signs of improvement but one cannot rejoice yet because just when you are jubilating that things are getting better that’s when the lights go off. If the government must help the fashion industry, they must improve power supply.
This is what will benefit every entrepreneur and have a multiplier effects on the economy because there will be jobs. If entrepreneur do not spend their money on what can be provided by government, the cost of production will be greatly minimized. This is the major obstacle that most Nigerians face. You provide water, you provide light, you clean you surroundings, if government can take effective charge of power and provide adequate power supply. Then we can concentrate our creative efforts on other areas, which will contribute immensely to the growth of our national economy.
The way I see Nigeria and this includes everybody, is that I see a malnourish child who has tremendous potential but is not flourishing. Nigerians are very resourceful even with the situation Nigerians have shown that they can perform wonders; given a conducive environment. Look at the music industry for example; Nigerian music is being played in the UK and the United States.
The same goes for the fashion industry. Our designers are on the runway robbing shoulders with the best designers all over the world. I don’t think that anyone can ignore the Nigerian spirit of ingenuity and this spirit cannot be cowed by lack of infrastructure and harsh economic conditions. Nigerian designers and musicians are doing their work without any form of government support. Look at private initiative such as Arise fashion. This is commendable but the people that should be doing something like that are the Export Promotion Council but they are not doing it. They are the one that should be organizing trade shows and al that but we thank God for such private initiative like the Arise fashion show.
I travel a lot and part of the reason why I travel is to see other culture. I travel in other to look at the fashion trends there so that I can know what to inculcate into our designs here in Nigeria in order to further promote the fayemz brand and contribute to the development of the Nigerian fashion
Industry. If I don’t do that, the customers will get bored with our designs and begin to prefer foreign brands. I like to go to countries like Tokyo, Thailand, Indian and look at the styles and designs because these countries are very rich in culture and style. I do not limit myself to Europe and the United states.
Words of Advice to younger designers
The harsh economic situation will not affect designers if we are serious about creativity because no matter how bad things may be people will always want to look good. People still travel to see their families abroad and spend money on holidays. The people who don’t have and the people, who have, always have. There will always be demand for good clothes. We must define our brand. At Fayemz, the kinds of clothes we make are ethnic incline and we make clothes for urban, middle and upper class Nigerians. Therefore, we always have demand for our clothes. It also depends on proper positioning and good marketing strategy. There are people who make good clothes but do not know how to market them. If you have your factory in Sango, for example and you have your shop in the same locality, this will affect your sales and the caliber of people who patronize you. Therefore, a designer must know where to place his finished products so that he can get good patronage. You must take your products to the people who will put good value on them.
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