It was all glamour and style as Jochlieu Apparel International showcased apparel, accessories and other fashion items for Christmas. It comes as part of its activities to enable fashion lovers spend less in fashion this Christmas. It was a one-day sales bonanza tagged, “Sales Basket”, and featured sales of wears, shoes, fashion accessories, bags, natural products, food, drinks among others.
Speaking at the event, Executive Director, Jochlieu Apparel International, Bridget Agba said that the programme, the second in its series, is aimed at attracting new customers to her brand as well as affording them the opportunity to purchase her products at slashed prices.
Asides getting new customers to herself and the vendors at the fair, the sales also meant to be a unique shopping and networking experience for both customers and vendors. “When l started, l had challenges of new people recognizing my pieces, it has always been the same customers. I then came up with the idea of organising this programme, which will give other vendors opportunity to display and sell their products to the public. It is not just a way of giving back, but also in preparation towards Christmas, because it holds yearly towards November ending. All the participating vendors sell their products cheaper than their normal store prices. We sell half of the price of what we sell in our stores”, she said.
Comparing last year’s sales with that of this year’s, she observed that the fair witnessed a larger turn out this year. She lamented the present economic crunch in the country, saying that it has affected the purchasing power of consumers.
“Although we witnessed more participants and sales this year, the fact is that people are no longer buying things the way they used to because of the present economic crises. Consumers now minimize their spending on wears and give more attention to food stuff.”
Looking at Nigerians patronage of locally made wears, she said it has been very encouraging, adding, saying Nigerians are becoming more aware of the reason they should patronise locally made products. “I could have ordered for raw materials to work with from abroad, but when l look at how Nigerians patronise wears that were locally sourced, l decided to continue sourcing the fabrics l work with locally.’’
She lauded Nigerian designers. In her words Nigerian designers are doing wonderfully well, “their works can compete favourably with foreign designs.’
While commending the efforts of the federal government in supporting small-scale industry, she stressed the need for the government to assist designers to create more production hubs in Nigeria.
“Two major challenges facing designers in the country are sourcing for fabrics and lack of adequate production hub. If we have enough production hubs, designers need not travel abroad. The quality of job done over there can be done here if there are much production hubs that will cater for the needs of Nigerian designers,’’ Agba added.
Some participants at the event include Ariyike Cloister, Lyons Couture, MCBK, Tribes By Nobs and House Wife Cooking Pot, among others.