Tobi Adewole is the CEO of Sefaari by Tobi Fashion brand and also the Director of Dressmakers on 35. Although a graduate of Biochemistry from the University of Ado-Ekiti, she eventually took up fashion designing as a profession when her desired jobs were not forthcoming. In this interview with EARL OKEZIE and JOY NGWOLO, she proves that it is possible to be successful as a graduate despite the unemployment challenges in Nigeria.
You studied Biochemistry at the university, why the transition to Fashion Designing?
I started learning to make dresses at the NYSC camp under the auspices of Skills and Entrepreneurship Acquisition Development (SAED) Programme. That was where I learnt the basic skills of sewing. After my service year, my dream jobs didn’t come the way I thought they would, and so I considered either taking up menial jobs or making use of the skills I acquired. Eventually, I decided to make use of my skills, which I believed would help me to quickly make money so that I could sustain myself and take care of family needs. So, I enrolled at Doluchie Fashion school in Ikeja, Lagos. That was where I met graduates like me who were also there to learn fashion designing.
So, do you think fashion designing has been able to sustain you over the years?
Yes, it has because since 2012 till now, I have not done any other thing. Everything I have ever done that has fetched me money in any way has been fashion even though there may be different aspects. But anything that has helped me in any way has been about fashion.
How lucrative is it?
It is lucrative because even if everyone in the world goes into fashion, I can say that nobody can do it all alone. No one person can make use of all the opportunities in that industry. The opportunities are so vast that from the crown of our heads to the sole of our feet is fashion. Fashion has a role to play in every aspect of our lives, whether you are a lawyer or a doctor. A lot of people, before they hear what you have to say or even get to know you, the first thing they notice is how you look, how you are dressed, it is your appearance that introduces you and everybody wants to be introduced, everybody wants to be known, everyone has a way they want the world to address them and fashion is the tool to brand yourself. So, opportunities in fashion designing are very vast.
Do you miss Biochemistry?
I still use it but basically when I am socializing like to argue about chemistry and how it affects our lives, food, drugs and so on but I have not used it professionally since I graduated from the university. But I use it to educate people on how certain things they do affect their health like how to grow kids’ hair and all of that. Few people still come to me for advice because of a counsel I gave in the past that worked and that was because I studied it in school. Fashion is in everything we do. For instance, if you are not healthy, your skin will not glow, clothes will not fit you. Sometimes you want to stay in shape because you want to come across as being fashionable.
How do you handle dealing with people of various shapes and sizes making all sorts of demands?
The two aspects of fashion I am involved in are ready-to-wear and the haute couture, which is custom-tailoring. The ready-to-wear takes care of that, we try to have realistic statistics for Nigerian women and we try to work with that range. But in custom tailoring, it doesn’t matter how you look and how you unique some of the parts of your body are, it doesn’t matter because we would measure you. Apart from that, we also give you the opportunity to relate with the dressmaker on your likes and dislikes based on your previous experiences. As a dressmaker, during training, there is a part that takes care of the human physiology.
How do you deal with difficult customers?
Patience. At the same time, while being patient, we are firm in our policies because we don’t argue with our customers, no matter what the person says, we allow our customers to pour out their minds as much as they want to but sometimes to pacify our customers, we shift a bit from our policies. But most times we discover that people want to be served well, they want to be happy and we want to be happy too so we both meet at a point.
Service delivery is a problem in Nigeria, that’s why the government had to come up with SERVICOM. People take your money and they don’t deliver. How do you relate to that? Let me put this way, some people say fashion designers won’t go to heaven.
Me, I will go to heaven O. Sometimes customers expect too much from service providers. Therefore, they put a lot of pressure on the service provider and for some service providers, if they are not professional enough, will not be able to handle such pressure so they either abscond or just collect your money and you won’t see them again. Another thing is that a lot of people are out there just to make money and the country allows everybody and anybody to wake up one morning and say they are doing business.
Also, we don’t believe in consultancy in this country. There are people who are specialised, as a customer what do you really want? You should go for people who can offer that service exclusively. For instance, if a bricklayer comes to your house to do some layering, you don’t begin to tell the bricklayer to do tiling. They may look the same but there are tilers, that is what they do. Sometimes customers want to short-change the artisan or service provider thinking it is just to lay the tiles but then the job requires more expertise.
In my business, for instance, we make African dresses, evening wears and custom tailoring but we don’t do suits even though I learnt it in school and have an idea of it but I am not specialised in it. I can do it but I don’t do it every day. So you give a job to a tailor that sews iro and buba and you tell him or her to make your wedding dress and expect that issues will not come? Issues will come because there are people that are specialised in that field.
And also referrals, referrals are very important. Get reviews before you patronise anyone. As a service provider, I always tell my colleagues, what you cannot do, don’t take it. And if you must take it, make sure that the customer is paying enough so that you can bring in another tailor that can do the thing. If you cannot get someone else to do the job, come out straight and clean “I don’t do this” and if you know anyone that can do it, refer that person to them. If you don’t do it well, your name is at stake, your brand is at stake, if you are trying to build a brand, you shouldn’t do that, you should always deliver.
If a person wants to go into fashion designing, what advice do you have for them?
The first thing you should do is, learn everything you can learn, get knowledge from every source. Read books, surf the internet, speak with people, go for your training and when you are done with doing that, you should specialise. When you specialise, it is easy for you to grow.
How would you describe the Fashion Industry in Nigeria now?
Things have changed. It is not the way it used to be about two to three years ago, request for dresses has declined but the industry is still growing. However, I believe we are taking over the world. We are having more elites in the business unlike what it used to be when children of illiterates and illiterates were the ones going to learn skills or when you fail in school and they tell you to learn a skill. But it is no longer the case. Now, even when you are educated, people leave the corporate world and start a career in Fashion. The future is very bright because all the opportunities in Nigeria have not yet been tapped.
How do you deal with competition because nowadays on every street you find a tailor or fashion designer there?
The sky is big enough for everybody. One person cannot satisfy the fashion needs of everybody. Even if everyone decides to go into fashion, we will all still make money. There are still some aspects of fashion that have not been tapped yet, so anyone coming into fashion now will find it good. But you shouldn’t copy anyone verbatim, you should be creative. Even if you want to pick an idea from someone, think about how that idea connects with you and come up with your own package.
How would you describe your style?
It is mostly African print with western style for the ready-to-wear and then for the custom outfits, it’s according to customer’s preferences. For instance, you see us making combat shorts with adire material or kimonos using Ankara material.
