Nigeria
Due to the rising household incomes, rapid urbanization, and an expanding middle- and upper-class customer base, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, presents intriguing potential in luxury and premium goods. Huard (2022) states that Nigerian customers respond favorably to foreign brands, and affluent consumers have a rising interest in sustainably. With a value of 31 billion USD, the fashion and textile industry is Africa’s second-largest, with Nigeria accounting for around 15% (Huard, 2022). Nonetheless, the opportunity is far more excellent; Wealthy Nigerians have always shopped overseas for foreign products not offered on the local market. This tendency is evolving as more global, premium brands frequently join the Nigerian market through franchise agreements and an online presence.
Domestic Luxury Fashion Brands
Deola Sagoe, Ade Bakare Couture, MUDI Africa, Frank Osodi, and Lanre Da Silva are the top five Nigerian luxury fashion brands with global operations. The brands dress the wealthy in Nigeria, throughout the continent, and worldwide. According to the LuxuryReporter (2020)., Deola Sagoe began her fashion career in 1988 when she joined her mother’s company, Odua Creations, intending to broaden the label’s range to include more current designs for the ever-developing, cosmopolitan elite society. Ade Bakare Couture has been designing unique items for his select customers worldwide since 1991. MUDI is an abbreviation for Mudiagha, the first name of Mudiagha Clement Enajemo, a native of Urhobo, Ughelli in Delta State, Nigeria (LuxuryReporter, 2020). MUDI founded the label in 1993 and was the first Nigerian designer to extend his creations outside the borders by opening outlets at the time. Distinguished ladies understand that Frank Osodi crafts classic items that never go out of style. Finally, Lanre da Silva is a renowned couturier in Nigeria, having founded her eponymous line in 2005.
Luxury Fashion Industry
The Nigerian fashion business is rising with enormous development potential, particularly in the luxury sector. For continued growth and development in the fashion sector, Nigeria must pay attention to retail infrastructure provision and incorporate its fashion industry in government policy legislation (Ruth, 2021). Like many others in its creative sector, the Nigerian fashion industry is still in its adolescence and lacks effective market frameworks. The present fashion industry in Nigeria is still in its early stages, with private sector engagement more likely than government participation. Despite Nigeria’s large market and inexpensive labor, the industry’s expansion has been stifled by a lack of government intervention and innovation (Ruth, 2021). Local fashion designers and merchants face a lack of organization, a harsh manufacturing environment, and competition from well-known overseas labels.
Polo Luxury
When Nigeria’s well-heeled want to go shopping without flying to London, they generally turn to Polo Luxury: the Nigeria-based holding firm that owns various luxury retail stores across the West African area. Polo, founded in 1991 by John Obayuwana, is the region’s only authorized reseller for brands such as Rolex, Hublot, Cartier, Gucci, and Dolce & Gabbana (Eytan, 2017). Moreover, Polo Luxury develops mono-brand boutiques in Nigeria for Longines, Rolex, and Cartier. In other developments, the Polo Avenue brand will venture into e-commerce.
Polo: Luxury Goods Produced by Africans for Africans
The average African shopper has very high expectations. Everything has been meticulously picked to offer consumers the sensation of shopping in an International high-end store, from the newest and trendiest luxury designers only accessible abroad to our neatly wrapped products. In addition to selling the worldwide luxury labels Polo Avenue sells offline, the firm will undertake an extraordinary leap in its digital chapter: supporting fashion produced by Africans for Africans. In Nigeria, the firm acts as a marketplace for select exclusive products. African designers have contributed to the global fashion business in the last ten years. The Polo Avenue fashion line provides goods from an emerging generation of African designers as well as a place for them to present their work.
Update: Swiss Luxury Goods Enter Nigeria
Polo has introduced Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen to the Nigerian market. The Executive Director of Polo Limited praised IWC for its forward-thinking approach, enabling the company to reinvent itself constantly (Radarr Africa, 2022). The collaboration aims to capitalize on the Swiss watch company’s brand loyalty while attracting a new generation of product enthusiasts. Timepiece collectors in Nigeria now have immediate access to IWC’s 154-year watch-making history, including models such as the Portugieser, Pilot Watch, and Da Vinci.
References
Huard, A. A. (2022). Nigeria: A fashion hot spot. Business Sweden.
LuxuryReporter. (2020). Five luxury fashion brands from Nigeria. Web.
Radarr Africa. (2022). Swiss luxury goods firm berths in Nigeria.
Ruth, P. A. (2021). Fiscal aspects of the fashion industry: The big four global capitals and the Nigerian equivalent. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 9(9), 232-242.