The Fashion Designers’ Association of Nigeria (FADAN), Lagos Chapter, on Thursday said that they needed about N150 million to build a production hub in Lagos.
Mr Kolawole Kuddus, the State Coordinator of the association, made this known in Lagos. He said that the production hub would also include a retail store that would display finished clothing items and accessories made by Nigerian fashion designers and pattern makers.
“The association has proposed a production hub and a retail store where items from the hub would be displayed; it is going to be like a meeting point for key players. The hub is a child of necessity because it would serve as a breeding ground for budding fashion designers, reduce the high production costs in fashioning and also boost productivity. Here is an industry that employs about 70 per cent of the graduates in the last three years in fashion photography, magazine production, pattern making, styling and wardrobe consultancy.
“The investment in the hub is nothing less than N150 million, and we are looking up to the government at all levels and investors to lend their support to this viable cause.
With the scourge of unemployment, our industry has become a solace to so many unemployed people, and so any investment in this sector can never be in vain,” he said.
Kuddus also said that FADAN had begun a monthly programme tagged “Designers’ Mart’ where young fashion designers gather to display their latest products.
He said that the programme kicked off in June 2014 and has since attracted so many fashion lovers and yielded a lot of profit for the fashion designers.
He urged upcoming fashion designers to register with the association in order to pull resources together, maintain standards and also build stronger companies with partnership. Kuddus also urged Federal Government to revive the textile companies as it would reduce the cost of raw materials for the fashion and design sector, and also boost value addition to Nigerian clothing products.
Kuddus had said in July that Nigeria’s fashion industry was worth about N10 billion with an average Nigerian spending between N100, 000 and N1 million on Nigerian-made cloths annually. Most Nigerian fashion designers display their products online, given the increased number of internet users which has risen to 57 million from 200,000 in year 2000. A recent report released by Philips Consulting, a financial consulting firm, also states that online shopping has increased to N78 billion in 2014, and most of the items being purchased are clothing.
The 2013 report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics states that the fashion, garment and footwear sub-sector contributes 0.67 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, but has very high potential for growth.
