National Weekender

Exclusive stories, Celebrity Interviews,Breaking News, Human angle stories,Celebrity Gossip and other interesting stuff about Nigeria and Nigerians.

Ebidomo Okudu Headlines with Zadira; promoting culture through fahion

No comments :
City fashionista Ebidomo Okudu has taken her love for fashion to the next level. She has set up her own brand, Zadira , for female shoes, bags and fashion accessories with a strong hint of Nigerian culture. And one person at a time, she is turning people back to appreciate own home made fashion goods. Zadira offers an exquisite collection of trendy ladies bags, shoes, slippers, men’s sandals and fashion accessories all superbly crafted to suit the taste of the urbane man or woman. She talks about how she started, "I have had interest in African fabrics for a long time. I love fashion and bags a lot. I felt a need to diversify my business last year. I had noticed In recent years that Nigerians have been using of a lot of African fabric as Aso-ebi and our designers have become very innovative. People now use our fabric for Western designs. In the past, Nigerians did not wear Adire and Ankara like we do now." Last year, she started selling Adire fabrics and the response to it was great. Then, a young friend of hers came from Dubai and while looking at the fabrics asked if she knew that she could make bags with the fabric. She knew she could, but how? Anyway, they searched for a school where she could learn to make bags and shoes in fabric and found one. And since then there has been no looking back . She discovered her creative side and became so inspired by what she could do with the fabrics and the whole process of bag making. Her inspiration she says was realizing what she was capable of. The more she practiced and got better at it, the more inspired and creative she got. When people saw what she did and liked it and were ready to pay for her bags, she was spurred on. She got even more creative and now she's on a roll. Now when she sees fabric, she is thinking, will this make a good bag? What about shoes? Two very important people in her life have really encouraged her a whole lot and she is eternally grateful to them. They have always said to her, “Yes you can!” She uses basically Nigerian fashion-Ankara and Adire for her designs, "Adire was my first choice. I have always liked the traditional adire from Abeokuta so I started selling the fabric. When I decided to start making bags I wanted an African touch in my creations and added fabrics from anywhere in Africa e.g. Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia etc." She is also seriously thinking about exporting her work abroad. "Yes, we are planning to export. One of the short term plans is to get the products outside Nigeria. Talks are already being held with people in London, USA, Germany, Belgium and Liberia. Our aim is to have a presence in every continent of the world. We are also targeting Nigerians outside Nigeria who always want a bit of the home touch.Also, we shall soon start our online shopping site, so that people can order our bags from anywhere in the world." Her products include Ladies fashionable handbags, Ladies shoes, Men’s slippers, iPad cases, Wallets, Belts and other accessories in Adire and Ankara. She has an exhibition coming up at the prestigious Moore house Hotel, Ikoyi on Sunday, 9th February 2014, which will feature 6 companies that deal in African goods.' You can come and see the rich African culture depicted in our goods and also appreciate the unique and beautiful stuff that can come out of Nigeria and Africa as a whole. ' Ebidee, as her friends call her, has a B.Sc degree in Biology from the University of Lagos and an M.Sc from Queen Elizabeth College, University of London in Food and Management Science. She worked in Cadbury, Coopers and Lybrand, Financial Derivatives, Commerce band, Crown Merchant Securities and Eco-securities before leaving to set up her own business. She currently runs Judith Michaels School of Etiquette in Lagos. Ebidee believes the future is bright and that Zadira has birthed at the right time. " Zadira has a great future ahead of her with the potential to grow to unimaginable heights. There is still so much to cover. There is a lot of unexplored terrain. When you mention bag makers/designers in Africa, we want to be the foremost. Zadira will promote Nigeria first, then Africa." by; Al Humphrey Onyanabo