The debut of home grown fashion brand, Ade, and the development of many more home grown ready-to-wear fashion brands in Nigeria, is expected to reduce unemployment rate in the country to as much as 30 per cent.
This, experts in the sector, said was alluding to the fact that garment production is a labour intensive industry, which is poised to create jobs and reduce the country’s demand on foreign exchange.
At the launch, the Managing Director, Adetowun Awofeso, said the move was to change the narrative on the country’s over dependence on garment importation by providing succour to Nigerians to meet their ready-to-wear garment needs.
While it reduces the country’s demand on foreign currency, she said the move would also invariably help to develop the textile industry and the entire value chain in Nigeria.
She said the brand with the vision to give a global presence, was designed for the liberated African minds, “who have been delivered from the mental slavery of foreign brands, the African who knows his/her true identity and abilities to use them right, the African who is willing to take charge of his/her destiny, African willing and ready to take Africa out of the wood to a higher level and Ade speaks to every true African.”
She said the move was about taking over the fashion industry by expanding the ready-to-wear, through trainings and collaboration with other brand designers.
According to her, this is expected to give them their true African identity and pride. To achieve this, she said the brand, has developed a standard body measurements chart for the African body shape, known as afric size chart, which has been developed into three categories – afric size regular, afric size plus, and afric size minus.
“Ade uses the Afric size charts to develop body blocks that have helped to eliminate the challenges experienced by most Africans buying foreign ready-to-wear garments. These challenges are majorly the problem of bust-waist-hip size proportion for the very curvy African shape, the problem of centre back length and the right dart positioning, and the problem of shorter back length in comparison to front length because of bigger waist-Hip ratio. Ade as a brand is birthed to take full responsibility for creating a home-grown fashion identity that defines the true African figures, fashion tastes, values, and needs,” she added.
