*Says fashion, textile industry in Africa growing, spreading round World
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos, H.E. Ministro André Veras Guimarães has declared that fashion and textile industry in Africa is growing and spreading around the world remarkably.
Guimarães made this known at a press conference he co hosted with Olori Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi who doubles as Founder/CEO of the African Fashion Week London and Nigeria held on the introduction of The African Fashion Week Brazil at the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos
According to the Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos, as at November, 2022, the sub-saharan Africa apparel sector was reported to have an estimated worth of $31billion which indicates that African textiles and fashion are spreading around the world remarkably.
The Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos, pointed out that ” the fabrics and prints mostly derived from natural fibres, cottons and various colour dires featured African cultural symbols”.
‘ Fashion and clothing matter to the economy, society and individuals. The industry generates activities in trade, it creates employment opportunities,” he said.
Guimarães added, ” We have to make the African fashion known in Brazil and because we have a large, not only black population, but Yoruba population, we have the status here as I said, that is a state where if any of you go to, you will feel at home. You will fit in because of the clothes, the music and traditions we have.”
Speaking on the similarities between Nigeria and Brazil, he said” the initiative is very important, to bring societies together as the two countries are similar in many ways”
The Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos maintained that holding the Africa Fashion Week in Brazil is a great initiative that will be greatly harnessed to the good of both countries, saying, “And like I told Her Majesty Olori Ronke Ogunwusi, that we can go deeper after this Africa Fashion Week”.
” We will offer scholarships. We can send people to study fashion in Brazil, and they will have the immigrant status. They have a free scholarship, all they need to do is just apply, to be selected. Of course there is a selection process but we can explore these educational paths. We need to bring our societies to be closer. So I believe this partnership with Africa Fashion Week and Brazil will grow great fruits in future.”
Speaking at the Press conference, Olori Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi, said the Africa Fashion Week started in 2011 in London, was created as a platform to bridge the gap between Africa designers, black designers and the general public.
“When we started over a decade ago, there wasn’t a platform that brought together African designers and the global audience. Most of the platforms were mainstream platforms and a lot of people then shy away from Africa fashion. So African fashion was considered then as more traditional. People were not proud to wear Africa fashion especially in the diaspora”, she said.
Olori Ogunwusi added, ” There was an urgent need to create a platform that showcased the great creativity of Africa designers. This gave birth to Africa Fashion Week, London. In 2014, we created a sister brand called ‘Africa Fashion Week, Nigeria,”
“I grew up in London, I was born there. I knew we did not have that exposure to African fashion like we do now where we have amazing, phenomenon African designers both in Nigeria and abroad that are doing so many wonderful things with our textiles and our fabrics.
Olori Ogunwusi pointed out that the reason why she crated the Africa Fashion Week Nigeria was to enable her and her team to reach out to talented designers within Nigeria and Africa who could not afford the logistics of travelling during the international show, adding, ” it is going to be our 9th year this year and Africa Fashion Week, London is going to be our 13th year this year”.
Emphasizing that Africa Fashion Week, Brazil will boost economic ties and deepen presence of Africa fashion on a global map, she said .the Nigerian fashion industry is worth trillions of naira, that we just have to look inwards to know how we can make it work.
