From hand-embroidered garments to innovative silhouettes and culturally inspired prints, the African fashion scene is truly diverse, with unique differences in design seen throughout every city in the continent. The good news is that everyone wears clothes. The better news is that, all over the world, there are a myriad of designer clothing lines, and greater chances that every fashion enthusiast, and even the casual dressers, have a long list of designers to pick from to supplement their wardrobe choices.
There’s absolutely no doubt that Nigerian Brands are staking their claim in the ever-evolving fashion industry as they are becoming more expressive and creative in their daring designs that appeal to many fashion lovers. Now more than ever, new brands spring up with cutting-edge designs that amaze us all. For this reason, we’ve curated the top ten Nigerian fashion brands we’ve recently discovered.
Our top 10 Fashion brands in Nigeria
- Atafo Official
- Style Goes To Church
- CottonLoops
- Elora Collection
- Iro Lagos
- Orange Culture
- Lisa Folawiyo
- DUDLagos
- WanniFuga
- Anya Wu Official
Atafo Official
Atafo Official, formerly known as Mai Atafo, is headed by the incredibly popular and widely acclaimed Mai Atafo. His story is a popular one: Mai Atafo left his high paying job to pursue his love for fashion.
(Source Atafo Official)
The Atafo brand is now one of Africa’s foremost fashion labels and creates menswear, womenswear, and bridal looks.
Style Goes To Church (SGTC)
SGTC is an Afrocentric ready-to-wear brand that shows off an array of contemporary styles in Ankara fabrics. Founded by Adetoke Oluwo in October 2016, SGTC Clothing focuses on making affordable yet stylish African inspired pieces available to women of every shape and style preference.
(Source Style Goes To Church)
Pieces from SGTC are versatile, affordable and trendy which is why we love them.
Cottonloops
Probably one of our favourites on the list, Cottonloops is a Nigerian fashion house, founded in 2018 by Bolupe Adebiyi, A confirmed trailblazer on the Nigerian Fashion scene, This Black and White Fashion Brand is all about sustainable ethical fashion.
(Source CottonLoops)
Their style is minimalistic but edgy and best of all, all their outfits come with pockets. All this goodness and we haven’t even mentioned their 1000Girls program
Elora Collection
Looking for the perfect mix of Fashion and Modesty? Elora is your go to brand! Elora Collection a modest fashion brand that caters to modest, modern and fashionable women in Nigeria and beyond. It was founded by Hafsah Mohammed in 2016.
(Source Elora Collection)
The brand focuses on designing contemporary modest styles using high quality fabrics and unique textures, allowing women to dress with confidence and sophistication. Elora’s everyday wear collection infuses modesty, modern minimalism, and class.
Iro Lagos
Nigerian fashion is more than just the traditional Buba and Iro, but if it was we would wear Iro Lagos all-day. From their modern spin on traditional fashion to their shirt dress and chic loungewear, this brand is definitely a household name across the Nigerian fashion scene.
(Source Iro Lagos)
Orange Culture
Orange Culture’s Adebayo Oke-Lawal describes his label as ‘a movement’, offering a mix of Nigerian-inspired prints and colors with a contemporary streetwear feel. All pieces are manufactured in Lagos, from ethically sourced, local Nigerian fabrics. Adebayo tells a story with every collection; there’s a lot of purpose behind it.
(Source Orange Culture)
He’s designed products that are truly unisex, both men and women wear the same items, and they’re super-flattering for both genders. We really admire his talent, his pieces are really wearable art. Orange Culture was shortlisted for LVMH’s 2014 Young Fashion Designer Prize and was recently nominated for the International Woolmark Prize in 2018.
Lisa Folawiyo
The Lisa Folawiyo Brand is a multi-faceted global womens wear and accessories collection focused on incorporating traditional West African textiles with modern tailoring techniques. Fused with its very own African-inspired custom luxury prints, the Lisa Folawiyo collection skillfully delivers contemporary garments.
(Source Lisa Folawiyo)
Lisa Folawiyo speaks to every modern woman with a strong flair for African aesthetics. Each piece is hand embellished from start to finish reflecting the brand’s focus on Integrity.
DUDLagos
Everyone grew up on Denim. Denim is a loved and versatile material. DUDLagos makes you fall more in love with Denim designs which is mixed with Iro and Buba… DUDLagos is a Denim-inspired ready-to-wear fashion label whose signature is a fusion of Denim and African prints/fabrics.
(Source DUDLagos)
The Nigerian brand’s creative ability to merge the versatility, adaptability and uniqueness of various materials including lace, denim and Ankara to enhance each piece is what we love about them.
WanniFuga
Since 2014, This Nigerian brand has established itself across Africa as the go-to brand for timeless, contemporary, clean-cut chic. This woman-founded Nigerian fashion brand is dedicated to celebrating, encouraging, and empowering women through their designs.
(Source: WanniFuga)
The WanniFuga’s design mission is to create and produce clothing that celebrates beauty and style for the modern young woman.
Anya Wu Official
Work wear doesn’t have to be boring. You can be stylish and classy at work too now. And getting outfits that make it easy to switch between work mode and chill mode effortlessly is what every woman needs. Anya Wu was founded by Ijeoma Anyanwu whose quest was to build a company that fuses her two passions; fashion designing and youth empowerment.
(Source: Anya Wu Official)
The brand creates high quality and stylish work and cocktail dresses to match the lifestyle of the ambitious and hardworking woman of today. Anya Wu designs are classy giving you that aura of understated elegance, confidence, and sophistication of the modern Nigerian woman.
Nigeria indeed has a wealth of fashion brands who are celebrated both at the local and international levels Not only does African fashion provide styles for every type of wardrobe but there are also many designers creating one-of-a-kind and handcrafted pieces.
When you get a piece from these brands, you might be one of three people in the world to own that particular style. It’s a special item that’s going into your wardrobe; most of these products are handmade. This uniqueness is also evidenced in the fact that, globally, many people don’t even know of these brands yet. For so long, cities like Lagos have been ignored by the fashion community.
What people are seeing now is fresh in their eyes even though that’s something they’ve been doing for over a decade and that freshness gives the wearer an advantage. With these pieces on, they’re introducing something that’s truly unique to whatever environment they enter.
