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.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.
xo
