The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Da Estol Handmade Clothing, Abimbola Esther Oluyeye, in this interview tells Gbenga Aderanti how her husband inspired her to learn sewing, monetise the skill and leverage the online space. Excerpts:
You didn’t start off as a designer. At what point did you discover your interest in designing ?
I became a fashion designer about eight years ago. I am a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where I had my Bachelor’s Degree in Education. I am also a wife and mother of four children. I’m a native of Idanre, Ondo State.
What’s the story behind your fashion brand ?
As a young married woman who graduated from the university, there were no jobs forthcoming. My husband noticed that I had a flair for sewing because during Christmas holidays, I would sew the clothes of our children instead of going out to buy clothes off the rack. I started out by using needles and thread to make their clothes because I didn’t have a sewing machine then.
Initially, my husband suggested I go into fashion but I turned his advice down because I felt I was more passionate about hairdressing.
My husband made me see reasons why he felt I had more chances with fashion design. With his encouragement, he paid for me to attend a fashion school at Magodo, Lagos State. Although the tuition fee was a bit expensive, my husband was able to come up with the funds needed because of the zeal he saw in me. The fashion school lasted six months, so I basically had my work cut out for me. As I started fashion school, my husband got me all the materials I needed to practice on my own while he assisted me in taking care of our children.
Over time, Daestol Handmade Clothing was born. Daestol is a combination of my husband’s name and my name. So you can say we work as a team. The idea behind the brand name is for people to realise that our clothing line is strictly African and it is homemade. We know there are people out there who love and need African designs, so we are trying to meet up with the demand. We started with at least 100 followers on our Facebook platform, at the moment we have about 18,000 followers. Most of the jobs we get now are from our online platforms. We have our twitter, instagram handle and websites where people make their orders.
You started out by using hand stitches. How did that work for you?
It was a bit difficult. And like I mentioned earlier, we didn’t have the funds to acquire a sewing machine. However, the love I had for sewing gave me the push I needed to begin.
What are some of the challenges you experience in the industry?
One major issue I encounter is getting other stylists to work with me. A lot of these younger stylists do not want to dedicate so much time to work. There have been instances where we would give them materials to work on and they would abandon them. When such things occur, I just pick the material and do the job myself. Usually, my customers love the styles I sew for them.
Another challenge is shipment. Charges for shipment have been on a very high side. From findings, we learned that what we are being charged for shipment is way higher than what we charge a client. It is so painful that some African countries charge our clients custom fees, so they end up having double payments for couriers. I see that as a form of discouraging clients from patronising us. This does not happen in Western countries. When we have clients being charged almost 100% on shipment, we try to bring our cost down to the barest minimum. While we understand that we need to make money as a brand, we also need to take other factors into consideration. We believe there are lots of people out there who long to wear African designs and it is our aim to meet those needs. African designs are special and they are beautiful.
Would you call having staff who abandon their work halfway a general problem?
I think it is a general problem. Most times, getting a stylist or an apprentice who can sew to your taste is not easy. A lot of them are not ready to learn. Instead, you find them looking for means to get rich quick. For some of them who choose to learn, they end up becoming half- baked because they do not see it through to the end. In some instances, you may have to teach them yourself and this becomes an issue because you have deadlines ahead of you. There are times when my husband has to put me on compulsory bed rest because I work round the clock.
How do you source quality materials?
My boss actually taught me how to get quality materials. I have specific places I go to when I want to buy; and I tell them out rightly that I need the best materials for my clients, especially when they are in the diaspora. While it is very true that I have clients who complain about the costs of the materials I buy, I give them the assurance that they will enjoy the fabrics I use. And the moment they receive their orders, they fall in love with the fabrics.
How have you been able to leverage the online space?
I mentioned earlier that most times, my husband and I work as a team. More often than not, he is my online manager. He handles all our online platforms so I can focus on sewing and meeting deadlines. Sometimes, he even designs for me and follows up on apprentices to ensure the job comes out well.
When you live in Nigeria, there is a disconnect, especially when you get clients from the Diaspora. There is this preconceived notion about blacks, especially Nigerians. So, trying to break that bias has been an issue. For clients outside Nigeria, we have to get their measurements via the online space while considering that different countries have different sizes. We make self-explanatory videos using a mannequin. Through these videos, we show them how to get someone to help take their measurements, then we document. We take measurements depending on your country of residence. When we have clients who pick designs, we see it as our job to tell them if the designs will work for the sizes or not. So far, we have been receiving great feedback. We had a Jamaican client residing in the United States of America, who recently got married. We did her measurement online and sent her wedding dress. She was so amazed when she got her wedding gown.
What does it take to start this business?
It doesn’t take so much to start this business. I started mine at home after finishing fashion school and didn’t have much to get a space at a preferred location. When people saw my job they loved it and some clients even motivated me to get my first space. What I will tell anyone who wants to go into this business is that it is prosperous; you’ll meet people especially when you truly understand this job to taste. Don’t be scared to start. Start small; get bigger within a short period.
Do you think female entrepreneurs like you deserve special treatment?
Yes, I do think female entrepreneurs like me deserve special treatment from the government. Policies should be in place to support female entrepreneurs like access to soft loans, and access to easy and well-branded logistics. We need to get our postal service to work again for a cheaper and better shipment. Government should invest in technical education; most times we will have to go to our neighboring countries like Benin, Togo, Ghana, etc before we can get an apprentice/stylist. African Clothing is well sought after all over the world. They need to make it easy for us to get it across. OU didn’t start off as a designer.
At what point did you discover your interest in designing ?
I became a fashion designer about eight years ago. I am a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where I had my Bachelor’s Degree in Education. I am also a wife and mother of four children. I’m a native of Idanre, Ondo State.
What’s the story behind your fashion brand ?
As a young married woman who graduated from the university, there were no jobs forthcoming. My husband noticed that I had a flair for sewing because during Christmas holidays, I would sew the clothes of our children instead of going out to buy clothes off the rack. I started out by using needles and thread to make their clothes because I didn’t have a sewing machine then.
Initially, my husband suggested I go into fashion but I turned his advice down because I felt I was more passionate about hairdressing.
My husband made me see reasons why he felt I had more chances with fashion design. With his encouragement, he paid for me to attend a fashion school at Magodo, Lagos State. Although the tuition fee was a bit expensive, my husband was able to come up with the funds needed because of the zeal he saw in me. The fashion school lasted six months, so I basically had my work cut out for me. As I started fashion school, my husband got me all the materials I needed to practice on my own while he assisted me in taking care of our children.
Over time, Daestol Handmade Clothing was born. Daestol is a combination of my husband’s name and my name. So you can say we work as a team. The idea behind the brand name is for people to realise that our clothing line is strictly African and it is homemade. We know there are people out there who love and need African designs, so we are trying to meet up with the demand. We started with at least 100 followers on our Facebook platform, at the moment we have about 18,000 followers. Most of the jobs we get now are from our online platforms. We have our twitter, instagram handle and websites where people make their orders.
You started out by using hand stitches. How did that work for you?
It was a bit difficult. And like I mentioned earlier, we didn’t have the funds to acquire a sewing machine. However, the love I had for sewing gave me the push I needed to begin.
What are some of the challenges you experience in the industry?
One major issue I encounter is getting other stylists to work with me. A lot of these younger stylists do not want to dedicate so much time to work. There have been instances where we would give them materials to work on and they would abandon them. When such things occur, I just pick the material and do the job myself. Usually, my customers love the styles I sew for them.
Another challenge is shipment. Charges for shipment have been on a very high side. From findings, we learned that what we are being charged for shipment is way higher than what we charge a client. It is so painful that some African countries charge our clients custom fees, so they end up having double payments for couriers. I see that as a form of discouraging clients from patronising us. This does not happen in Western countries. When we have clients being charged almost 100% on shipment, we try to bring our cost down to the barest minimum. While we understand that we need to make money as a brand, we also need to take other factors into consideration. We believe there are lots of people out there who long to wear African designs and it is our aim to meet those needs. African designs are special and they are beautiful.
Would you call having staff who abandon their work halfway a general problem?
I think it is a general problem. Most times, getting a stylist or an apprentice who can sew to your taste is not easy. A lot of them are not ready to learn. Instead, you find them looking for means to get rich quick. For some of them who choose to learn, they end up becoming half- baked because they do not see it through to the end. In some instances, you may have to teach them yourself and this becomes an issue because you have deadlines ahead of you. There are times when my husband has to put me on compulsory bed rest because I work round the clock.
How do you source quality materials?
My boss actually taught me how to get quality materials. I have specific places I go to when I want to buy; and I tell them out rightly that I need the best materials for my clients, especially when they are in the diaspora. While it is very true that I have clients who complain about the costs of the materials I buy, I give them the assurance that they will enjoy the fabrics I use. And the moment they receive their orders, they fall in love with the fabrics.
How have you been able to leverage the online space?
I mentioned earlier that most times, my husband and I work as a team. More often than not, he is my online manager. He handles all our online platforms so I can focus on sewing and meeting deadlines. Sometimes, he even designs for me and follows up on apprentices to ensure the job comes out well.
When you live in Nigeria, there is a disconnect, especially when you get clients from the Diaspora. There is this preconceived notion about blacks, especially Nigerians. So, trying to break that bias has been an issue. For clients outside Nigeria, we have to get their measurements via the online space while considering that different countries have different sizes. We make self-explanatory videos using a mannequin. Through these videos, we show them how to get someone to help take their measurements, then we document. We take measurements depending on your country of residence. When we have clients who pick designs, we see it as our job to tell them if the designs will work for the sizes or not. So far, we have been receiving great feedback. We had a Jamaican client residing in the United States of America, who recently got married. We did her measurement online and sent her wedding dress. She was so amazed when she got her wedding gown.
What does it take to start this business?
It doesn’t take so much to start this business. I started mine at home after finishing fashion school and didn’t have much to get a space at a preferred location. When people saw my job they loved it and some clients even motivated me to get my first space. What I will tell anyone who wants to go into this business is that it is prosperous; you’ll meet people especially when you truly understand this job to taste. Don’t be scared to start. Start small; get bigger within a short period.
Do you think female entrepreneurs like you deserve special treatment?
Yes, I do think female entrepreneurs like me deserve special treatment from the government. Policies should be in place to support female entrepreneurs like access to soft loans, and access to easy and well-branded logistics. We need to get our postal service to work again for a cheaper and better shipment. Government should invest in technical education; most times we will have to go to our neighboring countries like Benin, Togo, Ghana, etc before we can get an apprentice/stylist. African Clothing is well sought after all over the world. They need to make it easy for us to get it across.
