Hard work outpaces success, but only to provide an adequate platform for its inevitability. The fashion business in Nigeria has seen the rise of multiple fashion entrepreneurs giving their best to make an impression and grow relevancies that uplifts them to being accepted by a good clientele, however, only a few of these individuals have what it takes to develop the art of styling, tailoring, and designing into a business that accommodates a dozen staff and deliver products to customers in over a dozen states in Nigeria. That passion, vision, zeal, ethics, technical and practical know-how in the aspect of sewing, branding, and product development has earned Styled by Ajike this deserved recognition on this week’s special feature.
We continually seek out emerging brands who may be doing exceptionally well but are still steps away from the spotlight, to adequately review and analyze their standpoint in comparison with their objectives and see how the designs they dish out justify their short and long-term plans. Without a doubt, Styled by Ajike, whose founder and creative director is Mariam Oladipupo Ajayi, is florescent in a park with no lights. Having enlisted them among the fashion outfits that were nominated by you guys as compelling prospects for the fashion industry, we visited their office, had an in-depth conversation with Mariam to understand the brand’s scope and position, reviewed some of their collections, evaluated the authenticity of their products in ideas and visual representation, and hence arrived at the following inferences:
While comparing Styled by Ajike to big brands in the industry will be unfair, it is safe to say that most of their designs live up to the standard expected of fashion brands vying to go global. A bigger budget for their marketing and PR will see them increase their efficiency by 100%.
The brand sources a decent number of its fabrics and accessories from local merchants, with the sole purpose of embracing the Nigerian culture. An impressive display was watching them use some of these fabrics as package bags for customers’ products. A further insight from the founder was that it was the brand’s way of being eco-friendly.
They have a team of sufficiently trained stylists, tailors, pattern drafters, fashion illustrators, and embroiderers whose skills are being underutilized. It will be good to see what products they can come up with when ideas are being developed from the perspective of each of these people and not that of the sketch artists alone.
Amidst the brands we have featured in the past months, Styled by Ajike stands out as the only brand that caters for women and girls on a large scale. Their collections feature unique products that for official and unofficial purposes. Impressively, it is a delight to see that their ideas are interpreted to glamour and embrace trends.
We relish seeing them evolve into one of the industry’s renowned brands with intrinsic development and hope that they can improve their media visibility to match their proficiency.
