LIMELIGHT - NAZIF MOHAMMED of NATIVE FABRIC

Hey loves! So, we have a new segment known as LIMELIGHT. In this segment, we shine the light on up and coming young people, who stand out within their chosen fields and serve as inspiration to others.

 So for our very first LIMELIGHT session, we are shinning the light on NAZIF MOHAMMED, founder of the fashion brand NATIVE FABRIC. I sat down with him and had a conversation, and I must say, he has a bright future ahead of him, and so does his brand. 

Read and learn more:

RED HAIRED GURRL: Introduce yourself, if you’d please.

NAZIF: My name is Mohammed Nazif. I am a graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science And Technology. I studied Engineering. I just finished my national service this year. (I don’t know if I should tell you about my hobbies)

RHG: If you want to, but we have to know all about you *smiles*

NAZIF:*smiles* I have a passion for designing and art…anything that has to do with the arts. Yea, that’s just a summary of me.

RHG: So your brand is NATIVE FABRIC, what was the inspiration behind the name?

NAZIF: Well, the whole thing started when someone asked me to model for his clothing line, but then I had never been a model…he saw me on instagram and he wanted me to model for him. I thought he was joking, but after talking terms and conditions I decided not to accept monetary payment but rather asked him to design some clothing for me. So after the photo shoot, I gave him a shirt and he designed it using African wax prints... and that got me thinking about starting my own. So, basically, the name was inspired from the wax print that person used on my shirt. Initially though, the name I wanted to use was Native Creations, but NATIVE FABRIC sounded more Ghanaian and so, I decided to use it.

RHG: Yea…the name sounds very unique on its own. So, what inspired you to even get into fashion?

NAZIF: Even though I studied engineering, I have a strong passion for art and designing, and fashion is part of it. Sometimes, I want to do things in a different way, so I decided to get into fashion. Basically, you have to have the passion for it, and since I’d wanted to do this since my first year at Uni, I took it up when I was almost finishing school. So, yea, it’s the passion.

RHG: Starting a business can be hard financially. Did you have to seek for a loan from a bank or you had assistance from your parents? *You guys were not there, yea, but I wish you saw the pride on his face when he answered this question*

NAZIF: I started small… I started with my own money. From my own savings from when I was in school, not from my parents. I was kind of procrastinating, then one day I just went to the bank and withdrew all the money in my account. I started with 20 shirts, and grew from that.

RHG: Is it easy getting materials for your products? I know majority of the products are made from local textiles, but is it still easy getting them at moderate prices?

NAZIF: As you said, it’s not easy. I was looking at customer price indexing and the fashion industry has the highest amount when it comes to prices of materials. We haven’t increased our prices, but if you want to follow the way the prices are raising, the cost of the products will go up as well. We don’t want that for our customers. And with materials, yes…it’s not easy to get, but we are handling it the best way we can.

RHG: WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF BEING A FASHION DESIGNER?

NAZIF: It’s just creating something new. Going to the studio and designing something, then seeing the design get transformed into something much more beautiful. The whole process of creating something new is my favourite part of it.

RHG: WHAT MAKES YOU WANT TO GET UP EACH AND EVERYDAY AND GO TO YOUR DRAWING BOARD AND COME UP WITH NEW IDEAS FOR YOUR COLLECTION?

NAZIF: Like I said, the passion drives everything. If you don’t have the passion, there will be a lot of frustration, and a lot of mistakes that will cost you a lot of money at the end. At the end of the day, it is the passion for what you do that matters.

RHG: WHAT INSPIRES YOU WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR DESIGNS?

NAZIF: A lot of things. A butterfly can inspire me, a leaf…you know, and just about anything inspires me.

RHG: HOW DO YOU SELECT THE MATERIALS YOU USE FOR A PARTICULAR DESIGN? DO YOU IMMEDIATELY SEE A MATERIAL AND BE LIKE ‘I KNOW THIS STYLE WILL LOOK GOOD WITH THIS MATERIAL?

NAZIF: The colour of a material normally shows me what can be done. A dull print normally would not attract attention as well as a brighter looking print… and looking at a material, I can envision the style that would best bring out its beauty.

RHG: WHAT CHALLENGES YOU THE MOST IN YOUR WORK?

NAZIF: In our line of business, you have to be dynamic. It is ever changing, so you have to be better in other to stay in the market to be able to compete. And also, we have a problem of having our designs being copied; we had an issue where certain people broke away from the company because they were impatient, and as they were leaving, they took some of our designs along to start their own brand. This made us re-enforce our designs, so that they become less susceptible to being copied. We also have challenges with getting the materials on time; since we deal with middle men and not directly with the brands that we use, and also the delivery system here in Ghana is not up and up… we don’t have the amazons and the e-Bays. There are people in Accra, Kumasi and other parts of the southern sector who want the shirts we make but because we do not have a delivery system… and most of them do not want to go to the transport terminals to pick up their packages; some having very tangible reasons though.

RHG: HOW DO YOU MARKET YOUR PRODUCTS?

NAZIF: By word of mouth mostly. But we also have platforms on social media… instagram, face book. I created an instagram account and followed a lot of people and having them follow me back…gaining as many as 1,500 followers. So, yea, we do not have a store yet, but we use social media to market our goods.

RHG: WHO INFLUENCES YOU THE MOST WHEN IT COMES TO LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS? AND WOULD YOU LOVE TO WORK WITH THEM IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE?

NAZIF: Locally, ‘HEAL THE WORLD’, they make beads and shoes that are sold worldwide, then there is POKUA POKUA, also I really like CHRISTIE BROWN; I follow them all on instagram. On the international level, I follow a lot of them; Adidas, Nike, comme de garcon, Supreme, Polo, and some car brands. My main aim following of all these brands is to put myself out there, to learn from them and try to put my brand on their level, so that in the near future, we can compete with them.

RHG: IS YOUR PERSONAL FASHION SENSE A REFLECTION OF YOUR WORK?

NAZIF: Fashion definitely influences me…the way I dress is influenced and also influences my designs. Even when I am going to work, I dress up for that.

RHG: AT THIS STAGE IN YOUR CAREER, ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH WHERE YOU ARE?

NAZIF: I will say I’m glad… I’m glad where we are now. We are developing a lot, because we all want Native to get to a point where we all can be proud of, so…umm personally, I’m glad where we are but I’m not satisfied. We still have a lot…we have a lot of things to bring out. I am happy for anyone part of this… we do our own photo shoots, we do our own editing, we do our own graphic design. Everything we do, we do by ourselves. We do not hire models, we model the clothes ourselves…we do everything, it’s part of developing our brand.

RHG: WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR 2015, AND BEYOND? SAY IN 5, 10 YEARS FROM NOW?

NAZIF: We hope to increase our production in 2015. Sometimes, the demand is so much…the pressure is so much, but our production…it doesn’t match it. So we are trying to work on production in 2015, work on our finances as well; we don’t have an accountant, we do everything, and learning everything in the process. Also, getting a store will be another big step for us. In five years, I’m looking at Native getting to America, Europe and the other parts of Africa. We are building a website that will help with online purchasing and shipments. Yea, so that is what we are looking at.

RHG: ANY ADVICE TO ANY YOUNG MAN OR LADY OUT THERE WHO IS HOPING TO OR EVEN STARTING UP THEIR OWN BUSINESS?

NAZIF: You have to follow your passion. Do what you are good at, especially when you are in school. Don’t go and study a course that you have no interest in but because there is money in that line of profession, you go ahead and learn it. Also, we down here in the north, do not look deep down to know what we are good at…what talents we’ve got but rather, everyone wants to go to the south to look for greener pastures when they can remain here and use their talents for the betterment of our part of the country. And I’m hoping that Native would pave the way for that.

RHG: Thank you for your time, and I wish you all the best with your brand

Follow NATIVE FABRIC on Instagram at, Instagram.com/nativefabric for more information, or go to Facebook and click the Like button at Facebook.com/nativefabric.

We need to support our very own; those who step out of the box, and follow their imaginations. I love their designs and they are talented too. You guys need to support and help build this brand.

xo