Austin Aimankhu Raising the Bar for Nigerian Fashion Industry

Famed for his unique fashion show, Fashion Art Fusion, which features visual art, performance poetry and music on the runway, Austin Aimankhu, the CEO of the men’s fashion brand Luzol, is on a mission to put the rich Nigerian textile

 tradition on the global map, Vanessa Obioha writes

Austin Aimankhu stands out for two defining features: his distinct appearance and his choice of attire. His signature afro, streaked with grey, is like a miniature Soyinka haircut. His wardrobe is equally notable, as Aimankhu is usually dressed in attires made of a variety of Nigerian fabrics- adire, aso-oke, or ange.

Aimankhu is a man driven by a passion for showcasing Nigeria’s traditional fabrics on the global stage. As CEO of Luzol, a men’s fashion brand, and founder of Fashion Art Fusion—a unique show blending fashion, visual art, poetry, and music—Aimankhu has made it his life’s goal to celebrate and elevate the nation’s textile heritage.

Originally trained as a lawyer, Aimankhu’s transition to fashion was inspired by a desire to bring Nigerian fabrics to the forefront of contemporary design. After apprenticing with renowned designer KeseJabari, he further honed his skills at Yaba College of Technology and Lagos Business School, acquiring the technical and business acumen necessary to build his fashion empire.

His mission took on new life with the launch of the Wear Nigeria campaign in 2016, in collaboration with Nigeria’s Ministry of Information and Culture. The initial plan that year for FAF was to have a three-day event that would feature an exhibition of Nigerian fabrics and a fashion show. Despite the challenges posed by an economic recession that year, Aimankhu pushed forward, organising exhibitions and fashion shows to promote local fabrics like adire, aso-oke, and akwete. The campaign remained a central theme of subsequent editions of ‘Fashion Art Fusion.’

Eight years on, Aimankhu’s commitment is stronger than ever. His passion was palpable on a recent Tuesday afternoon.

“A lot of Nigerians don’t even know their traditional textile,” he noted, citing examples like the akwete fabric, native to the Igbo people.

“People tend to say the Nigerian textile industry is dead, yeah, the print is dead because that was an industry that was considered the biggest employer of labour about 40 years ago.”

Despite the grim outlook, Aimankhu sees hope in the thriving artisanal fabric sector.

“There’s an aspect of the textile industry that is not dead, that is vibrant and that’s our local textiles. It has employed, and is still employing quite a huge number of people in our countryside. Every region in this country produces its own unique textile. We have the akwete in the South-east, igbulu in Esan land in Edo. We have the popular aso-oke and  ange from the north, but it’s a tradition that is dying.”

To preserve this rich tradition, Aimankhu is advocating for a national policy that would protect and promote indigenous fabrics.

“We are calling for a national policy to intervene in this aspect because the Nigerian textile industry employs not only the youths but also women who are mainly the weavers. However, because the production is very intensive, it is not encouraging for younger ones to come into the industry. This area is so critical that it needs serious policy intervention for profit and investment of the private sector.”

To achieve this, Aimankhu called for a scientific approach to supporting the industry, including detailed mapping of producers and their needs.

“We need to map. We need to have a database that has all this information about these people. Who are the people producing these fabrics? What do they really need? How can we intervene? How can we help them to scale?

“We believe that if the right policies are put in place, if these people have the right support system, they will be empowered.”

A longtime advocate for cultural initiatives, Aimankhu has participated in efforts to encourage wearing Nigerian-made textiles. He recalled his participation at the 2016 Culture Summit in Abuja, where, as a delegate, he advocated for a dress policy that would encourage Nigerians to wear Nigerian fabric.

“Of course, the government cannot tell the private sector what to wear, but the plan was to encourage civil servants to at least wear Nigerian textiles twice a week.”

It is against this backdrop that Aimankhu is launching a standalone Wear Nigeria project in November 2024, under the theme ‘Textile as a Tool for Empowerment and Sustainability.’

The three-day event, which will run from November 8 to 10, will include a symposium, an exhibition, and a fashion show, all aimed at raising awareness of the importance of Nigerian fabrics.

The symposium will kick off on November 8 at Alliance Francaise in Ikoyi, Lagos, and will feature discussions on empowering local textile producers,

“The whole essence of the symposium is to create a platform where we can judge the significance of these textiles; how we can help its production and demand and empower people who are practitioners in that sector,” he explained adding that representatives from the Lagos State Government and the federal government and other notable players in the sector will be featured.

The ‘Wear Nigeria’ exhibition will kick off immediately after the symposium and will run till the following day, November 9 at the same venue.

“The exhibition will showcase different things that can be done with Nigerian textiles. Participants from different parts of the country will display their unique Nigerian textile.”

On November 10, the fashion show will take centre stage at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, featuring 20 talented fashion designers who will showcase stunning creations made from locally sourced fabrics on the runway.

Aimankhu’s vision for the runway show extends beyond fashion to the integration of technology and innovation in textile production. “Some of these fabrics are only used occasionally but if we can promote these fabrics for daily use on the runway, patronage will increase, producers will earn more, and the industry will grow.”

As his tradition, the runway show will not be limited to fashion but will include poetry, dance and spoken words.

Although Aimankhu has the backing of the Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy and the Lagos State Government, he has equally found a worthy partner in Soji Odedina,  the Group Managing Director of First Katalyst Marketing, whose vision aligns with his.

“We are sitting on a product that can change the fortune of Nigeria and Nigerians,” said Odedina. “The Nigerian Orientation Agency wants to build a Nigerian identity, but how else can we build that if not through our creative cultures such as food, music, film and fashion? If we want this economy to recover, these are the ways to go.”

Odedina also warned that if we don’t protect our local fabrics, there is a high tendency for the Chinese to take over the production of these fabrics in the next three years.

For Aimankhu, there is no better time to have a national policy on Nigerian textile tradition than now.

“There is a unique opportunity presented by the availability of high-quality local fabrics, hand woven and hand processed, which are aesthetically distinctive and need the support of enabling regulatory framework and policies as well as investment to upgrade artisanal production capacity so that craft producers can produce in greater quantities and more reliable quality. A vibrant, reliable cost-effective textile production will make affordable Nigerian-made textiles which will thus stimulate economic growth, provide decent employment opportunities, sustainable fashion, youth employment and gender equality,” he concluded.