– The Story Of Adewale Dauda, CEO U&I Innovative Fashion Embassy
If you have seen top Nollywood stars like Prince Jide kosoko, Funsho Adeolu, Murphy Afolabi, Shola Kosoko, Muyideen Oladapo (Lala), and many more in beautiful outfits and you ever imagined if such designs were created in Nigeria, the answer to your imagination is just a call way. The brain behind these beautifully crafted designs is Adewale Dauda, the founder of U&I Innovative fashion Embassy.
Adewale is young, dynamic and creative fashion
designer and an accountant by training who got his certification from the Lagos
State Polytechnic. He’s also into entertainment, he is a Nollywood
actor producer who has featured in a couple of movies including Omo
Olomo, Ise Orin, and also working on some yet to be released.
This
articulate designer started sewing in 2006 and he has taken his trade to
another level having added a creative design academy to his trade. He is not
just a designer but also a trainer. He does both male and female outfits and
that stands him out from the crowd.
He
was at the City People corporate head office in Gbagada last week where
he had a chat with DAMILARE SALAMI
08155134152. In the brief chat, he opened up on how he was inspired to
become a creative fashion designer. Below are excerpts from the brief chat,
enjoy.
You’ve
been in the business since 2006, why did you pick fashion of all the businesses
at your disposal?
Well,
my passion for creative designs and seeing people look astonishing made me go
into sewing business. Actually, I was once an accountant, I did accountancy at
the Lagos State Polytechnic but the passion I had made me start sewing as an
apprentice somewhere around Ikotun in Lagos, then later I enrolled at a fashion
school.
Tell
us more about the training you had and how you started learning about fashion
design…
I
started training immediately I finished my secondary education, it was pretty
difficult then but I had to do it all the same. Then when I started my
post-secondary school education, I had every reason to dump sewing and focus on
my studies but I didn’t. I had to combine both and it was quite tough but I
didn’t allow the two to affect each other. I study when I need to and I sew
when it is required. In 2012, I relocated to Ikorodu where I enrolled in a
fashion school to sharpen my skills as designer and upgrade my knowledge of the
trade. I learnt a lot at cut and stitches fashion academy in Ikorodu and one of
the most important skills I picked up was sewing female attires.
What style do you sew particularly?
I do native wears, shirts, trousers and
unisex; I do everything fashion.
I know many designers who stick to just
one sex. Why did you decide to do unisex?
I actually started with male wears
only. But demands started coming in from female customers who liked what we
were doing for men and I had to employ female stylists to cater to their needs.
But at I point, I felt a need to up my game and I got a push from my wife who
encouraged me to be an all-round designer so I took out time to get more
training and here we are today. That also prompted me to start a fashion school
where we train people and mentor them in this line of business. There was day I
got a lot of jobs from a female politician who gave me many female cloths to
sew and one of my employees decided to quit because of the pressure to deliver
the job within a short period. I took up the challenge to sew the clothes
myself and they came out pretty well. It was an eye opener and a stepping stone
for me because it motivated me to brush myself up in female designs.
Which would you say is the biggest
project you have handled so far?
I have done several job for many high
profile politicians who would not want to be mentioned. I also design for many
top Nollywood stars like Prince Jide kosoko, Funsho Adeolu, Murphy
Afolabi, Shola Kosoko, Muyideen Oladapo (Lala), to mention just a few.
We also do corporate designs for schools and corporate organisations. We design
for Kith and Kin Education centre owned by a top politician, APC Vice Chairman
in Lagos State, Asipa Kaoli Olusanya. There are several others that we have
handled and are still handling but we do not take any of our projects with
levity. For me, every project we handle is big and we treat it as such.
How do you get to meet your clients?
Well, I meet most of my clients via
referral. I good job speaks for itself and that is what we are all about at U&I
Innovative fashion Embassy. Although I don’t do online as such for the
fear of being plagiarized but because we know that it is the trending thing
right now, we have taken our business to
Instagram. Our clients and
prospective clients can reach us on 08129028200 on WhatsApp and @Uandi_innovative
on Instagram and Website on www.uandiinnovative.com
Is that to say that you’re not planning
to do social media campaigns any time soon?
That is what most people do now and it’s
really working for them. I know it will work for me too and that is why we have
made our presence known on Instagram. However, I believe more
in referrals but we are not undermining the power of social media. Recently, we
started another arm of the business and that is U&I Innovative Fashion
Embassy ready-to-wear and bridal outfits. Watch out for us, we are taking over
the market space very soon.
What
would you like to say to your teeming and prospective customers out there?
I
want to tell my customers home and abroad to expect more from us because we can
give them what they want. And whoever is sophisticated in fashion and wants to
look fabulous should contact us because we are qualified enough to attend to
them and give them what they need. We are also hoping that in the near future
we can penetrate the international market. And move our tentacles from Nigeria
to other countries of the world. We promise to continue to upgrade ourselves
and not disappoint them, we are here to meet their desires and cater to their
needs. Look out for U&I Innovative fashion Embassy and just continue to
patronize us. We thank them for their past patronages and anticipated continued
patronage. Thank you all for loving us.
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