The Adire Oodua Textile Hub says it is set to position the adire fabric as one of the non-oil exports that will boost Nigeria’s economy.Its Chief Executive Officer, Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos, said that the fabric was a viable wealth creation tool for the nation’s tourism.
According to her, the adire fabric is a heritage fabric that dates back to centuries ago and is still relevant in our present generation.
Ademiluyi, a cultural promoter, who is also founder, Africa Fashion Week, Nigeria/London, said that the textile hub was established in 2021 as a COVID bounceback to empower women and unemployed youths.
“Our mission is to use our heritage fabric as a wealth creation tool for rural women and unemployed youths to enable them generate a sustainable living.
“Adire is a beautiful technique that is created using different methods for beautiful patterns on fabrics and involving various resistance methods to resist the dye from fading.
“This ancient fabric creation technology allows us to create so many patterns, symbols and signs on our fabrics and it also tells different stories of our culture on our fabrics,” she told NAN.
The cultural ambassador, who also promotes “Queen Moremi Ajasoro”, an annual cultural contest, commended Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi for sponsoring the Adire project.
“Our sole benefactor is His Imperial Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II of Ife Kingdom, the custodian of Yoruba cultures and traditions.
“His Imperial Majesty, who is our Chairman at the adire hub, charges us to tell our own stories and build owned narratives of Africa through our textiles designs.
“Our vision was to set up an indigenous textile hub for training and working with women and youths in the rural areas of Nigeria to boost industrialisation and wealth creation.
“A visit to the hub will educate you on how the women and youths are working on adire in a very fascinating way,” she said.
Ademiluyi, also a lawyer, said the uniqueness of the adire business was that it empowered more manpower than buying of machines which would slash manual labour.
“The adire hub invests in human capacity building and we rely on human labour and not machines, this enables us to engage the services of over hundred workforce on the job.
“Based on this, we have the capacity to produce several thousands of handmade adire every month ready for market supply.
“We cater to retail markets, wholesale markets, and individual designer markets for those who want their customised designs,” she said.
According to her, adire fabric is now in demand globally and exported worldwide, with clients in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Jamaica and lots more.
She said the hub was in partnership with Nigeria’s High Commissioner in Jamaica, in celebration of the country’s 60th independence celebration, where adire would be showcased on exhibition.
“Our goal is to turn adire into the new shea butter with focus on developing more markets outside Nigeria, especially in the diaspora.
“Our intention is to set up adire trade centres in a few major cities around the world starting with London.
“This made us to have our theme of Africa Fashion Week Nigeria and London 2022 as the Adire Culture,” she said.
Ademiluyi said the show would start with an awareness, discussions and workshops at Africa Fashion Week Nigeria 2022 holding in Lagos from Sept. 7 to Sept.9.
She also disclosed that the best adire of the show would be selected for export showcase at Africa Fashion Week London in October during Black History Month.
(NAN)
