How to become a Fashion Designer in Nigeria

The chance of getting a good job in Nigeria is no doubt, very slim. This is because of the crippled nature of the Nigerian economy. 

The current situation of Nigeria has therefore necessitated the need to acquire a skill.  Using the skill you have learned to be your own very dream entrepreneur could be the next big step.

Fashion designing is a very good skill to take hold of because seriously nobody goes out without wearing clothes especially when it is designed in an attractive and beautiful manner.

 Fashion designing has many benefits attached to it once an individual learns it and start making use of it wisely. With the passion in the work, you can create new original designs that will catch the eye of numerous consumers.

In essence, becoming a fashion designer in Nigeria might just be the next big step that will lead to a boom in wealth for you. However, how can you tell if becoming a fashion designer is best for you? Not everyone would succeed as a fashion designer, you know. The problem is that those who fail at fashion design lack the proper understanding of what fashion design is all about

Let’s delve in more!

Duties of Fashion Designers

For you to succeed as a fashion designer in Nigeria, you must understand what fashion design is all about. Below, I would be listing out the duties of a fashion designer.

1.     Always thinking of new designs.

2.     Producing the designs

3.     Overseeing production of various designs

4.     Working with a team of designers

5.     Marketing design

6.     Involving in various business activities in a quest to ensure the survival of your fashion design business

7.     Always being up-to-date to the trends of the fashion world in Nigeria and beyond.

Skill Requirements needed to be Successful in Fashion Design

If you do not possess the below skills, I wouldn’t advise you to become a fashion designer in Nigeria.

You should also note that these skills can be learned and develop. So, if you are so serious about becoming a fashion designer in Nigeria, go acquire and develop these skills.

Below are the basic skills that will determine your career success in fashion design.

1.     Creativity:

Creativity plays a significant skill in determining your career success in fashion design. In other words, fashion design is about how creative you are. It is about having a lot of ideas running through your head. In other words, it is about innovation or creating designs that are new and original.

The more creative you are, the popular you become. If you wish to become a fashion designer, you should really examine yourself; are you highly creative? How many designs do you imagine per day? Are your imaginations active in the world of fashion design?

2.     Networking Skill:

Your career success in fashion design will be also determined by your networking skill. How well can you advertise yourself? Do you have good marketing strategies? How well can you grow customer relationships? What are your business plans?

You should know that fashion design is not just a career path, it is also a business. You are venturing into fashion design not just because you have a passion for it but also because you need to make money.

A good customer base is the life wire of every business inclusive of the fashion design business.

3.     Management Skill:

If you want to become a fashion designer for a short period of time, you do not need to have management skills? However, if you wish to become a successful fashion designer in Nigeria, you need top management skills.

You can’t succeed in the fashion design business if you are eating your profit. You can’t also succeed in fashion design if you do not have good business sense regardless of your skill or creativity.

4.     Decisiveness:

Fashion design involves you coming up with new ideas. These new ideas won’t create themselves. A fashion designer must therefore be decisive and act without delay. He or she would need to be fast according to the trends of the market.

To become a successful fashion designer in Nigeria, you need these basic skills which have been explained above.

How to become a Fashion Designer in Nigeria

If you have decided to become a successful fashion designer in Nigeria, the below tips would guide your journey.

1.     Discover your Specialty:

When it comes to fashion design, there are lots of areas that you can invest in. Being decisive about this stage would determine to some extent the career success in fashion design.

There are a lot of areas to focus on when it comes to fashion design in Nigeria. You may choose to specialize in baby wears, suits, women wears, bridal wears, traditional attires, and many more.

Knowing your specialty or discovering your interest should be the first big step you take if you wish to become a successful fashion designer in Nigeria.

2.     Learning:

After you must have known your specialty or your area of focus, you should find a fashion designer that deals with your interest. If designing women wears is your specialty, you would need to be trained by one who designs women wear.

This is the secret to becoming an expert fashion designer. Remember this; experience is the best teacher and education is an impacter of knowledge.

3.     Be a Diligent Learner:

One may have the best teacher but gain nothing. After you must have found a good teacher to train you on fashion design with respect to your specialty, it is important you pay attention to every teaching.

Fashion design can be very tricky and therefore requires total commitment and diligence to become an expert.

4.     Do not Rush:

The knowledge you hold is a key determinant of your success level in your fashion design business. If you wish to become an expert fashion designer in Nigeria, do not rush your education.

There are so many quack fashion designers out there in Nigeria. They are quacks not because they do not have good teachers but because they are impatient to learn.

To become a successful fashion designer in Nigeria, you will need to learn consistently for a minimum of 6 months.

5.     Ignite your Imagination:

You won’t become a successful fashion designer in Nigeria without creativity. To stand out as a fashion designer, you would need to have a high taste for fashion and be very creative.

To be very creative, your imagination must be ignited or incited. There are various ways to achieve this.

Reading various books and articles on fashion design is an effective way of igniting your imagination. Perusing through fashion magazines and newspapers on various fashion styles is another way of achieving. There are also lots of videos dedicated to fashion that you can watch. In one way or the other, you would need to keep your imagination burning.

6.     Know your Financial Strength:

You would need to know how much is necessary to make your dream as a fashion designer come true.

This shouldn’t be too hard if you diligently learned fashion design from an expert. This is because if you learned well, you would have a glance at the cost, gain, and profit or the flow in finance of your teacher’s fashion home.

For the sake of this article, I will give you a glimpse of the estimated capital to start a fashion home in Nigeria. You would need a minimum of N500, 000 if you are starting out small. However, this is only an estimate, as it could be cheaper or more expensive.

7.     Networking:

Your amazing designs won’t make any sense without people to appreciate them. Fashion design is about the people who could appreciate and buy your designs. Creating networks that would help you sell is the next big step. This step is so big that if you succeed at this, you are already on the path of becoming a successful fashion designer in Nigeria.

In order to achieve this, you would need to tell your friends, family, relatives, neighbors, etc. about your design.

It doesn’t just end there; you need to advertise yourself by any means possible. There are so many advertising Media out there, according to your financial strength, make a choice.

8.     Be an Innovative Business Strategist:

Yes, you are a fashion designer, but you are also a business owner. You would need to think of new ways to sell your fashion designs. In other words, you would need to be an innovative business strategist.

What about the internet? A lot of accomplishments can be gained if you use the internet to your advantage. There are many other ways to grow your fashion design business.

A piece of advice; begin reading business books. Learn principles to grow a small business to a big one.

9.     Stay up-to-date with the Trends:

A saying goes; change is constant. This is very true even in the world of fashion design. People taste’s for fashion changes over time. You would need to study the pattern if you wish your fashion design career to remain alive.

10.  Perfection:

One of the beauties of life is learning. We learn every day in a quest to be pursuing excellence. Sometimes, it is really hard to tell or define perfection, but we must thrive to become better than our past.

Becoming a fashion designer in Nigeria is pretty much not the end. You still have more grounds to cover. You need to thrive to be better each and every day. You need to learn something new!