The African fashion industry is worth an estimated $31 billion, says Aiki Odiawa, managing director of a fashion brand.
Odiawa said that many African and Nigerian designers have benefitted immensely from the African Fashion Week.
“The designers have gained a lot. We have showcased over 800 up and coming African and Nigerian designers.
“Without our platform, a lot of them would not have the awareness, the recognition they have now.
“When we started in 2011 there wasn’t a platform that promoted African or Nigerian brands.
“We are the pioneers of the African Fashion Industry. The African Fashion industry, according to the Euro Monitor is worth $31 Billion now.
“A lot of big brands are now doing a flagship collection of African furniture and we’ve hired a lot of African designers to work with them so, it’s a new revolution of African fashion.”
Ronke Ademiluyi, founder of the Africa Fashion Week, told NAN that Nigerian designs are setting the pace in Africa’s fashion industry.
“The fashion industry in Nigeria set the trend and everybody else follows. We are very bold; we are very vibrant our designers are very creative,” she said.
“When we started Africa Fashion Week, the majority of our designers came from Nigeria. Initially when we started, we started with 50 designers about 40 of them came from Nigeria.
“The reason why we were able to accommodate them was because their designs were out of this world, very innovative, very creative.
“The following year other designers from other countries copying what we have done. So, I think we set the trend when it comes to Africa fashion.
“We try to impact the knowledge that we have gained from hosting fashion weeks over the years unto the designers.”
The first edition of the African Fashion Week held in 2014.
