This costs how much? Why?

Over the past five years, the fashion industry in Nigeria has seen significant growth. Every year, more designers appear on the scene, and the existing ones reach new career heights by expanding their reach and upholding their aesthetic to a more globally recognizable standard. As with any industry still in exponential growth infancy stage , there are many hurdles to overcome. One of these hurdles is the controversial price-point of the available fashion within the country.

I recently had a chat with a few college students about Nigerian fashion brands and the ones they liked. The responses I heard were quite bleak. I heard different things from “ I love ‘so-and-so’ brand but of course I cant afford it” to “ How can I like a Nigerian brand that doesn’t like me?” . The latter question really got me thinking. What does that mean? Why would this college student think that Nigerian brands don’t like him? When I asked him to elaborate, it started making a bit more sense.

He felt that the brands didn’t like him because they were priced higher than anything he could afford at that point, yet the aesthetic of the brand chose him as a target market. As a result he felt personally victimized. The only visual I can use to explain this is a mousetrap. The more I thought about it, the more I admitted to myself that it wasn’t exactly news to me that there has always been a general debate about the justifiability of the prices of some fashion brands in the country. I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard a conversation go like this:

By Denola Grey.

Full story at The Guardian NG.