Precious Okoi: Iroko Speaks of Beauty, Simplicity Through Our Designs, Fashion

Iroko, a ready to wear fashion brand that specialises in beautifully designed female clothes and hand bags, made its debut in the Nigerian fashion scene at the last Lagos Fashion Festival, showcasing its African inspired pieces. The founder and creative director, Precious Okoi speaks on the brand, its designs, the inspiration behind it and the outlook, with a vision to be a household name in Africa. Ferdinand Ekechukwu brings the excerpts:

Tell us about your brand, Iroko?

Iroko is actually where ‘Artmeets Fashion’. We are a ready to wear brand that produces beautiful and exquisite handmade clothes and hand bags. Why we say ‘Art meets Fashion’ is because most of our pieces have hand-painted designs on them that speak to our African roots and that also appeals to whatever aesthetics that we want. So, our collection has African-inspired pieces that speak to our roots and we also have flowery collections. So, we call it ‘Ifuru’ collection that has beautiful flower designs. We also have our handmade bags of beautiful cowhide leather and it also has hand painted designs on them.

The collection/pieces; are they all on showcase today?

Yes, they are all here. We are showcasing them at our exhibition boot and we are also on the runway today. One other major thing to also note about our brand is that we are very sustainable-conscious. We believe so much in sustainability. That is the bedrock of our brand. It isn’t just a buzz word for us at Iroko. So, we source our materials in ethical manners and we also make a whole lot. We do a lot of up cycling and a lot of recycling as it were. So, there are some, for our bags for instance, we use a whole lot of leather that people would have said ‘ok I will discard this as it were’, in the industry’, so, we upcycle it to produce our bags. And in terms of sourcing, we are very conscious of sourcing ethically for all our products and materials used.

Who are your targets?

Everyone is our target audience. Fashion is an expression. So, and this is an art. Everybody loves art one way or the other. You don’t have to be a connoisseur to say okay. One way or the other art is in everything; in the bags you carry, in the shoes you wear, in everything. So people, anyone who loves art, would love our pieces. Because our pieces are more art inspired. Anyone who loves their homeland would love our pieces because our pieces also call you home, gives you a deeper meaning, gives you a sense of belonging. So, our pieces appeal to everyone. We are majorly a female ready to wear brand for now.

Barely months in the market, what do you think stands you out and what is your vision?

Well, we are not in competition with anyone. Let’s just clear that first. We are on our own trajectory. We are on our own path. We are on our own journey. And we are not in a hurry. We are taking it one step after another. And quality will always speak for itself. The design will always speak for itself. So, those are the key things that will stand us out. We are looking inwards to always improve on ourselves. Where we were when we started is not where we are now. And we keep improving and keep getting better. It’s a continuous journey.

For most, there’s always a backstory. What’s yours?

For me, I’m the daughter of a tailor (laughs). Yes, my mum. I grew up in the house of a tailor. But I didn’t toe the line until very recently. But I have always been fashion-conscious. I have always loved putting things together and coming up with something unique. I believe so much in minimalism and simplicity. So, why I now decided to take this further is I saw a niche that I could fill in. You know we have a beautiful story to tell in Africa. Our story is so vast. So, I felt one way I can tell a part of the African story is through expression in our designs, which is why I said our designs are artistic in nature. So, if you check the ones we have which is the elephant design that has the strength of the African elephant you will see the beauty and simplicity of it in the design.

Let’s talk about the designs, considering the weather, how friendly are the fabrics?

Yes, our clothes are light weight; our fabrics are lightweight, because we are already in a very climatic region in Africa; Africa is not a cold region. So, our fabrics allows for a lot of air. So, it’s not heavy. Even with how hot the weather is, our fabrics will still be comfortable bearing any of our designs because we put that into consideration. Even in our designs, our designs are not bulky. One other keyword for us in terms of the brand is ‘less is more.’ We are a very minimalist brand. So, we don’t believe that you have to put the entire world in the design for it to come out beautiful. Once you see our designs you would know that less is actually more.

Where are you based in Lagos?

Our factory is in Ogudu, on the Mainland. Right now we are strictly an online store. But definitely we would have the physical store very soon because we are working hard towards that.

How affordable is your brand?

You know price is relative. What I will call affordable, some other person would say ‘this is so expensive’. So, I believe in value. If you value something, irrespective of the price, you would pay for it. But in terms of looking at it in naira and kobo, we are very, very affordable in terms of pricing and considering what it is that we are offering. The quality of the workmanship, the quality of the designs, and the intricacies in the art designs on it, even in the material sourcing because we ensure that all the fabrics we use in the production are all topnotch.

Let’s say in five years from now, what are you looking at?

Definitely in five years we want to be a household name in Africa. You know we want to conquer the African market. Well, a lot of people are saying the European market are you not going to expand into the European market, are you not going into America. A lot of people are leaving out the African market. African market is so huge that if you have a fashion designer on every street, you can still not cater to the needs of everyone. The market in Africa is so, so big. So, our target in the next five years is we want to be a household name in the African space. So, when anyone hears Iroko it will not be a surprise. When they hear Iroko, the next thing they are thinking is that fashion brand.