There is no telling that the renaissance of the Nigerian streetwear industry has been meteoric. Within these Nigerian brands, we’re seeing themes of unsullied elegance, Y2K aesthetic resurgence, armored glamor— all of which are offering quintessential Nigerian Gen-Z and millennial style expression. But this strutting emergence isn’t credited to Nigeria.
The streetwear culture can be traced to the early ‘90s when baggy jeans, tight nylon quilted vests, neoprene jackets, and platform heels all became trends. With hip-hop stars like Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, and Nas bringing this style into the spotlight, the young Millenials in New York and California leaned in. Now almost 32 years later, the culture has become a global rave, the Japanese street fashion has gotten mainstream, the skateboarding scenery in several countries has bloomed, and the music jams are even more phenomenal.
In Nigeria, the biggest consumer of streetwear fashion could be credited to the alte subculture— a community of young Nigerians whose fashion style is unconventional and plays with expedient and ungendered subversions; think stars like Ashley Okoli, Teezee, Lady Donli, and Odunsi the Engine. While the streetwear culture keeps blooming in this part of the world, yielding enormous sartorial experimentation and promoting genres and subcultures, we should keep in mind that there are designers who started this journey and are leading the forefront of this movement, proving how worthy they are by connecting communities through fashion. Here are five Nigerian brands you need to know
1. David Blackmoore
For Asiafa Oghenefego and Asaju Samuel— the creative directors of David Blackmoore— creating a fashion brand that possesses a unique resonance between personality and culture is revolutionary. Founded in 2015, David Blackmoore is a Nigerian streetwear brand with a fusion of contemporary and traditional design aesthetics. The design duo wanted to tell a redefined story of fashion and they sought to change the Nigerian streetwear industry by creating clothes that are multidimensional and afro-futuristic in nature. “We needed to propel Nigerian streetwear culture and serve as a voice through fashion,” they tell Teen Vogue. “Growing up in a third world country like Nigeria where most of our resources are being exported and less emphasis is shed on the homegrown products, we thought we could be that change we wanted to see, making a powerful brand that keeps the Nigerian streetwear industry fully represented on the global market.”
In just seven years, David Blackmoore has released several collections, launched campaigns, amassed a huge clientele both home and abroad, and styled celebrities like Skepta and Burna Boy. In 2020, the brand caught the attention of the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh who worked together with them to create handcrafted denim for the Off-White x Street Souk campaign theme I Support Young Nigerian Women. “Moments like those kept us going and weathering the storm because if we could and are still doing it, the average African dreamer can also do it. We didn’t go to any fashion school nor did we study abroad, David Blackmoore was born out of the deep desire to make our dreams reality,” they say.
But for the David Blackmoore designers, things haven’t been easy-flowing. “Starting a streetwear brand in Nigeria is not as easy as it seems,” they claim. “The economy and the economic restraints have been a challenge to production processes, coupled with the need to remain consistent and deliver quality merchandise over the years despite all the downturns in Nigeria. We just keep it moving”
2. Severe Nature
The extremity of the self is the first thing that comes to mind when the brand Severe Nature is mentioned. No wonder one of the founders Christopher Afolabi described the brand as “the expression of youthful freedom.” Established in 2012 by Tobi Adeleye and Christopher Afolabi and the late Michael Atobalele (Uzii), Severe Nature was sculpted to fill a space in the Nigerian streetwear industry. “We wanted to solve an existing problem in the fashion industry,” says Afolabi. “Growing up, every time we wanted to purchase streetwears, it was always outside the country. There was nowhere to purchase streetwears or have access to the streetwear culture in Nigeria, so in 2016, we pushed for a full Nigerian sector of the brand, we started a pop-up in 2017 and there was a great reception of the brand.”
The design aesthetic of Severe Nature is elusive with luxurious tailoring, bold fittings, and unconservative elegance — features that make them unique from other streetwear brands in the country. The brand operates with a modern essence though it is open to experimenting with redefined Y2K aesthetics — cropped tops and denim wears — working across communities and generations especially millennials and Gen Z.
But for a brand at the forefront of restructuring youthful expression and breaking conservatism, acceptance is something hard to come by. “Nigeria is a strict-driven country, there is a norm to things, and getting people to accept these diversified clothing has kind of been a challenge. Streetwears are like free-will and this is kind of contradictory in the country, so we have been pushing that narrative on how to dress freely but it has been so challenging,” he says.
The brand also has an issue with manufacturing because the country is saturated with tailors who make formal and traditional attires rather than streetwear, but Severe Nature is keen on fixing its problem which is the brand’s biggest success “I was on a call and someone was like ‘Yo, it’s crazy how we can go on Severe Nature and buy streetwear items whenever we want to’ that’s definitely a huge success for us, just creating that channel and ability for other streetwear brands to come up and being able to create platforms for young artists is a great success.”
3. Street Souk
The first impression of Street Souk is that it’s the quintessential peak of the Nigerian streetwear industry. That’s why it’s regarded as a convention. The brand was founded in 2018 by Iretidayo Zacchaeus whose love for the streetwear culture in Nigeria fueled her hopes for the industry’s future potential. “Street Souk is a celebration of African streetwear. I made it my mission to provide a platform for upcoming & established streetwear brands in my city, bringing them closer to their target audience and allowing brands to connect with each other in a physical space,” says Zaccheaus.
“Throughout my life, I’ve been inspired by a lot of people, from Grace Ladoja to Virgil Abloh to my brother Teezee and my mum Yewande Zaccheaus, who had already started a fashion souk but was catering to an older demographic. She essentially gave me the blueprint and I chopped and screwed it to fit my own audience. I took a lot of inspiration from Complex con and Sole DXB as the magnitude and importance of these events show me my dream is valid,” Zaccheaus explains.
But in a male dominating industry, it can come off rough for a young woman leading a brand prominent for being streetwear convention; this initially was Zaccheaus’s biggest challenge because she had to work with people who have a huge age gap between her. “Nigeria is a country with an ageist mindset and for me, having to navigate the space where I was able to tell people what to do without them feeling some type of way because I’m younger was initially tough.” she tells Teen Vogue and though this is behind her now, she’s most impressed by the growth of the brand just within the past 4 years.
4. N.A.C.K
The Nigerian Articulate Culture Kullection isn’t just for Nigerians, the brand basks on an Afropolitan niche that stretches out to not just people born and bred in Africa but to Africans in the diaspora. Founded in 2006 by Tolulope Akinpeloye, N.A.C.K was created to solve a complex issue of identity. Akinpeloye felt that people talking about their cultural background didn’t encourage unity so with fashion, he decided to create a tribe of people with a unified identity. “I wanted to create a space where people could say ‘I’m African’ and that would be all that mattered,” Akinpeloye tells Teen Vogue.
N.A.C.K functions with a Nigerian sensibility. With a crisscross of modern and traditional, the brand’s style exudes fluidity. In almost 16 years of existence, the brand has amassed a huge success, expanding its audience to not just young people but to kids and middle-aged folks; having stores in different parts of the country, and finding solutions to the issues they set out to solve but the brand’s biggest issue is the problem of location. “Running a business in Nigeria is hard,” says Akinpeloye. “I think I would call it Nigeria-lysis, it’s a disease and it affects every business owner: from government policies to insecurities [and] access to funds, all these things have been a challenge directly or indirectly to us too.”
Tolulope Akinpeloye still believes there is a future that has always existed in the brand’s vision and that’s “to be the most preferred Afropolitan brand in Africa.”
5. Meji Meji
Before Tolu Oye started out her streetwear brand Meji Meji, she was creating face mask bucket hat combos for people in her college. She had only decided to outlive her fears and learn several ways to be creative, when the idea of Meji Meji came to her. In Yoruba language, “Meji” means “double,” a name Oye, who is enthusiastic about her culture, had gotten from a Yoruba dictionary in order to align her vision to her root. And on that perception, Meji Meji was built to help people explore their roots and find pride in their culture.
But far from being a cultural revolutionary, the brand Meji Meji is also keen on feminine expression through style. They simply want women to appreciate their uniqueness and celebrate their beautiful essence. “We pride ourselves on quality and functionality, and we strive to style women who appreciate vibrant color pallets and bold cultural styles,” says Oye. “While there has been a more galvanized effort to see more representation of Black women in media, those who don’t align with the European standard of beauty often face exclusion. So we created Meji Meji Mama, our brand mascot, to be a symbol for women’s empowerment.”
Being an emerging designer is Tolu Oye’s biggest challenge but she doesn’t let that define her and what she hopes for Meji Meji. She’s most grateful to her high school fashion teacher Mr. Gary Osborone and designers like Sharmadeam Reid and Priya Ahluwalia who keep inspiring her artistic journey. “I can’t mention the streetwear culture industry and not talk about the women pioneering the industry, Grace Ladoja, owner of Metallic and Homecoming, and Ireti D, owner of Street Souk and WAF and cream. Virgil Abloh notices the talent coming out of Nigeria. I think the streetwear industry in Nigeria is influencing the mainstream,” she says.
