How to build sustainable children’s fashion brand in Nigeria- Fumilola Abdullahi

Fumilola Abdullahi, founder of Cindara, an Abuja-based children’s fashion brand, has shared insights on building a sustainable children’s fashion brand in Nigeria.

Mrs Abdullahi, a fashion entrepreneur and wife of former sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi, has specialised in children’s wear since she founded Cindara in 2017. Her brand has gained recognition for its creativity, unique style, and quality.

Cindara serves the elite and average consumers while maintaining a high standard of quality and luxury fashion for children and young adults.

In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, she discussed the essentials of building a successful children’s fashion brand in Nigeria, emphasising the importance of discovering a niche, identifying trends, and knowing your target audience.

She said, “Understanding the Nigerian Fashion Hub and the market is crucial. Conducting thorough research on the Nigerian children’s fashion market to identify gaps, trends, and, most significantly, your consumers’ needs is critical. You will also need to identify your competitors and the challenges to understand the gaps and how you can bridge these gaps. Catch a niche for yourself.

“Who is your target audience? You must be clear about this and tailor your services and products to meet their needs, expectations, and preferences. Focus on a specific niche, such as affordable luxury, eco-friendly materials, and cultural designs. Create designs that resonate with your niches, such as culture and or luxury as the case may be, while also being trendy and functional.”

The children’s fashion expert further revealed that durable and functional clothes are essential for kid wear. Using her brand as an example, she briefly discussed building a sustainable brand like Cindara.

“Focusing on good quality will build a loyal and good customer base for you. Durable and functional clothes are essential for children’s wear. These factors will help differentiate your brand. You would have developed a clear brand identity communicating your sustainability, quality, and luxury values.

You can build a sustainable fashion brand by creating high-quality, exclusive luxury pieces with eco-friendly materials. You can also build a solid, appealing brand identity that engages consumers and retains clients.”

Inspiration

A former banker with a deep passion for fashion, the fashion entrepreneur said she was motivated to learn the craft despite the challenges she faced during her early days.

Her fashion journey was also driven by repeated disappointments with tailors who failed to deliver what she envisioned, highlighting a significant gap in the Nigerian fashion industry.

She said, “I love fashion. I have a good taste and fashion sense. I love dressing up. On many occasions, tailors and designers disappointed me, both in times of quality and time. I had an event to attend, and I needed someone to make a dress for me. I didn’t like what I got, and I was supposed to participate in the event with my husband. I ended up putting on Iru and Buba.

“Such experiences pointed out gaps in the Nigerian Fashion industry. Since I’m passionate about this area, I embarked on the journey in 2012.

I didn’t just want to learn but to be very good at it. So I started from scratch, learning how to make simple native wear and freehand methods with a tailor at the famous Garki market in Abuja, and upon completion, I started enrolling in fashion schools to gain advanced skills.”

Quality Vs Quantity

Considering how the Nigerian economy has deteriorated over time, clamouring for quality products at a low cost can be seen as insensitive or impossible. However, Ms Abdullahi exempted her brand from offering low-quality outfits to save costs.

She explained how customising fabrics has allowed for better costing while Cindara maintains its standard of providing quality outfits for children.

The CEO of Cindara said, “Prioritising suitable quality fabrics and materials has helped. I customise fabrics, and this allows price negotiations since it’s bulk purchases. This reduces costs per unit while we maintain exclusivity, quality and standard. I also source materials locally to cut down on import costs, which has allowed more budget for quality fabrics.

“Also, because it’s bulk purchase or wholesales, as we may call it, we still get good price deals. We have pieces as low as N30,000; they are party-worthy and celebrity-worthy. So it depends on your budget and what you want. We have pieces; even for kids, we have pieces as high as N400,000 and N350,000. And we have as low as N35,000, N40,000. So it depends on what you want. But what is guaranteed at the end is that you will get quality. You will get a good offer.” She added.

Revealing the trick to getting quality but affordable fabrics to satisfy her customers, she said, “Developing strong and long-term relationships with reliable suppliers who understand my commitment to quality has helped me greatly. And long-term partnerships can lead to better pricing and consistent quality”.

Balancing marriage with building a successful brand

It’s not impossible to build a successful brand as a wife and a mother in Nigeria.

During the interview, Mrs Abdullahi briefly discussed balancing marriage and building a successful brand. She highlighted how challenging it could be for married women to create a brand.

She said, “Combining marriage and business needs a good balance to ensure that one doesn’t affect the other. It can be challenging for women who want to balance both. It comes with a lot of sacrifices and huge responsibilities. For me, I’ll say it’s been GOD because these things take the grace of GOD. Nobody can claim to be perfect or an expert in all these.”

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“It’s a huge task, but I set my priorities and responsibilities and rightly delegate those tasks that can be delegated. I cannot be in two places at the same time. I also cannot do everything by myself. So, getting competent people as team members has helped my business. Building a solid team is a way I strike that balance so I don’t get overwhelmed.

She further advised mothers to get help when necessary because combining family and work can be challenging but achievable.