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The days when putting on made in Aba products were seen as derogatory are gone. Today, many people, including celebrities, are proud to say that what they are wearing was produced in Aba. The change in attitude is the function of the quality change in the products made in the commercial city that prides itself as the ‘Japan of Africa’ because of the ingenuity, dexterity and creativity of its artisans. MATTHIAS NWOGU, Umuahia writes.
Aba has comparative advantage when it comes to the fashion industry because of the availability of clothing materials and an abundance of Tailors.
Nobody can take it away from Aba that even most of the foot wears and hand bags used in the West African sub-region are produced there. Some people said they decided to patronise made in Aba products when they discovered that most of the designer wears they bought in supermarkets in major cities in Nigeria or supposedly made by the top designers, which they paid exorbitantly for, were actually sewn in Aba.
There is a thriving symbiotic relationship between Designers, Marketers of clothes (mobile tailors) in different parts of the country and Tailors in Aba. As one of the tailors puts it, “We are satisfied with our tag “Local tailors”, as much as we make our money from the business relationship with the Professional Designers and marketers in the fashion Industry. We can identify our products when they are worn by top politicians, celebrities as well as ordinary Nigerians anywhere in the country. As a matter of fact, in Aba we create, design , copy and sew; all these we do because of the experience we have gathered over the decades in the fashion industry.
According to a popular tailor who prefers to be identified by his business name, Asotex Tailors, and has put in over 20 years in the business, they are enjoying a boom in the tailoring industry because of the patronage they are getting from marketers and fashion designers from different parts of the country.
Asotex, who specialises in sewing trousers, Senators’ Safaris and other types of outfits, said he seldom has time to sew for individuals in Aba as most of his customers from outside the state bring in a number of sewing ranging from 10 up to 20 that keep him perpetually busy, pointing to tied up bundles in the workshop which are either to be made to specification or for mass production.
“Under specification, the designers or marketers bring in their clothing materials-mainly costly ones- and leave the different measurements and definite instructions on what they need, and by Gods grace, we sew them to their taste. As for mass production, the materials are not that costly and could be bought anywhere by anybody who fancies it.”
He said that they also give professional advice to some of the marketers who come with measurements that are incorrect because they know from experience these do not meet the normal measurement ratio.
This, he explained, are some common problems of those who are not trained tailors but are into fashion designing business. “Some of them go into offices, take inappropriate measurements of their clients who they have chosen materials for.” This unsolicited advice, coupled with the cheapness of materials in Aba, as well as our comparatively low charges have made Aba the designer wearer’s destination.
Abatex said those who patronise their services are many and come from different parts of the country. “They are either coming to claim the ones that are ready or bringing in fresh ones. It is a daily business depending on what one needs.”
But what baffles every first timer in Aba is the environment where these designer wears are made. For instance, in parts of Akwete street and Etche roads where these tailors cluster, there is nothing to show they can make any reasonable sewing as the sewing machines are ordinary and workshops, mere stalls or in most cases, makeshift stalls in between two buildings. Macbeth was right when he said that “There is no act to find the mind’s construction on the face”. In most of these shops one cannot find a display of the clothes they have sewn to convince an enquirer of the expertise of the tailor he is to trust his expensive materials with. Explaining this, Mr Samuel Ebino, who shares the same workshop with Asotex and a shirt specialist said, “You can’t afford to expose your designs or that of your client to the many copy cats who would copy any design that attracts them and is trendy and mass produce it at your detriment or that of your client whose work is customised.” However, there are many corporate tailors scattered all over the city who are good in the art and equally patronised by the visiting designer and marketers but their charges are said to be higher than those in the market stalls.
Another tailor, Mr Innocent, who has his workshop on Etche Road, said his clientele cuts across the West African sub-region as some Nigerians resident in some of these countries sew the clothes in Aba and take them to cities like Cotonou in Benin Republic where, ironically, our people smuggle them back to Nigeria packed as foreign shirts. He said the expertise of most Aba tailors are derived from the ability of most of them to download foreign designs from the internet and copy them exactly, as well as interpret designs in fashion catalogues. The availability of quality clothing materials, which some few people import, are sold only in Aba and has highly enhanced the sale of these made in Aba clothes, which our clients supply to the high echelon in Abuja or Lagos. Making these clothes would continue to be cheaper in Aba as long as most importers of fabrics are domiciled in Aba. When these materials are imported into the country, they are taken from Lagos to Aba where they are sold in bails or rolls. They are in turn taken to Lagos or other parts of the country where naturally they would be sold at a higher price.
Mr Samuel Ebion, who is a suit specialist said they are always busy; those who have tested and are satisfied with their work were always coming back for more. He admits that their work might not have the same finishing like those of their foreign counterparts because of the sophistication of their equipments and quality of the clothing materials but “we are giving account of ourselves under our circumstances” He said that the suits they make in Aba can compare favourably with the finest ones anywhere in the country but our fees and prices are better,” he boasts. On the price difference between them (in the market) and the corporate tailors in town, he said “they build in their overhead cost, which shoots up their charges but our customers know what they want, so we are not in any competition with them.” Though none of them agreed to disclose their real charges but only gave estimates, they all said that they are always willing to negotiate and are fair enough to continuously draw the patronage and boom they are enjoying.
“Aba is home of fabrics ranging from second hand clothing (Oke), bales and rolls from Asia and Europe. There are materials that look like waste but to the people who know the value, they can turn them into finished products that are attractive to wear,” one of them said.
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