Wear Nigeria Partners Lagos Govt., FMACCE To Host Its First Runway Show In Lagos

L-R: Oladejo Anikulapo, Director, Wear Nigeria; Agnes Aileluohia, Chief Operating Officer, First Katalyst Marketing and Coordinator, Wear Nigeria; Austin Aimankhu, CEO, Luzol and Founder, Wear Nigeria; Soji Odedina, GMD, First Katalyst Marketing and Partner, Wear Nigeria at the press conference held at Ikeja.

Wear Nigeria, a platform that promotes the Nigerian textile tradition in partnership with the Lagos Government, and Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy (FMACCE) has announced plans to hold its first ever runway show to bring to the fore and enrich textile tradition of Nigeria.

The event is scheduled to hold from 8th – 10th of November, 2024 at the Alliance Francaise, Mike Adenuga Centre and Oriental Hotel with the theme “Textile as a tool for empowerment and sustainability”

According to the organisers, day 1 of the event which will be held at Alliance Francaise, Mike Adenuga Centre will be a symposium to create a platform where they can judge on the significance of these textiles, how they can help its production, demand and empower people who are practitioners in that sector.

There will also be panel discussion that will involve representatives from Lagos and Federal Govt., as well as notable players in the sector.

Exhibition will come after the symposium and run from 8th – 9th at the same location with different fashion designers showcasing different things that can be done with the Nigeria textile with participants from all over the world.

The last day will be the main runway show with over 20 fashion designers showcasing their talents and giving different interpretations of the textile. The runway show will also witness local displays, dancing, spoken words, among others.

Speaking on the initiative, the Founder, Wear Nigeria, Austin Aimankhu said “Wear Nigeria was founded in 2016 in Lagos as a theme in our Fashion Art Fusion, where we celebrate the Nigerian textile, fabrics, fashion and everything Nigeria but this year we decided to take it out to stand alone as a platform and project because of the importance of the subject matter.

“The mission of Wear Nigeria is to bring to the fore and to enrich textile tradition of Nigeria, such as aso oke, adire, akwete, akwa-ocha, and others.

“We want to educate Nigerians about Wear Nigeria, because aside the Adire, there are other traditional textile that we have in Nigeria but are not known. To achieve this, we need a national policy to intervene into the Nigerian textile tradition and we also require investment from private sectors.

“The weaving and dying process is a huge industry, if the right policies are put in place and there is the right support system for the practitioners in the industry. We want to employ more people in the industry, but how do we help, how do we know what they are producing, what they need, how we can help them scale, and how we can intervene.” Austin concluded.

In addition, Group Managing Director, First Katalyst Marketing and Partner, Wear Nigeria, Soji Odedina said “Many years ago I developed four pillars of passion which includes MUSIC, SPORT, MOVIES, AND FASHION. These pillars create an identity for people.

“For Nigeria, we have done so much in the music firm by creating an identity for Nigeria, the same thing with movies, because our movies are all over the world. Sport use to give us so much joy and fashion is the only area we have not touched so much.

“We are sitting on a product that can change the fortune of Nigeria and Nigerian style. We got a brief from National Orientation Agency (NOA) on how else we can build the Nigerian identity. So, if you want this economy to recover, these are some of the areas we need to work one.”

He added that investment is needed to ensure that we get the technology that can produce faster which is why Wear Nigeria is coming in with this creative initiative.

The 3-days programme will help empower more people, generate serious earning and employment for individuals and government because textiles can be exported.

The runway programme will also bring together fashion designers to give their interpretations to the Nigerian textile tradition, create creative designs such as dresses, bags, pouch, shoes among others that has more usage because with more usage there will be more patronage and this will make the producer earn and be empowered.