Bunmi Ayuba is a big fashion designer in Lagos. She is the CEO of Tailor Made Fashion House, at Iponri Market in Surulere, Lagos. This epitome of beauty started her business 24 years ago. She started the business just to be able to have enough time to take good care of her home and children, and since then she has remained a strong pillar in the fashion industry.
She was at the first City People Entrepreneurs Award, held recently at Lekki Coliseum in Lagos. She spoke to Assistant Editor of City People Magazine, SUNDAY ADIGUN, exclusively on how she started her fashion business.
How did Tailor-Made start?
Tailor-made started a long way back, 24 years to be precise. It started in Ikeja. I was working and I had young children but the challenge was the timing to take care of the job and the family. So I decided to choose family. I resigned and I thought of what to do that won’t take me away from home and children. So, I looked inwards, and I asked myself what do I like doing? I like fashion. I like dressing up and all that, and I settled for that. I got tailors and I started my first shop at Adeniyi Jones, right in front of my house. Later, I moved to Alade Market. From Alade market, we moved to Surulere at off Adeniran Ogunsanya. Though, when I was there I had some issues with low patronage, so I decided to move into the market again. Women are our target audience and they come to the market often. Some of them will not even plan for cloth, but in the cause of buying their food items, they come to buy. They would see our materials, our dresses being displayed and patronise us. So, I’m still at Iponri market, Surulere.
How did you coin the name, Tailor Made?
When we say something is custom made, I was just thinking of a pay offline job initially. Maybe custom made for women, and I thought of Tailor made. I thought of Tailoring and since our clothes are made by Tailors and I love how it sounded, I chose the name. That was how I got the name and registered it.
How easy was it to start the business then, compared to now?
Then, it was different when I started. I started with normal machines and not industrial. Normal machines weren’t expensive. To rent a shop was not expensive. Getting tailors wasn’t stressful and weren’t expensive. Everything came with ease. I was able to get a nice place, get tailors. The designs are mine, but then people were not paying as much as they are paying now. Now, rent is an issue. Tailors are not easy to get, you’ll have to go to the neighbouring country to get Tailors because most of our own Tailors here, once they learn the work and know it, they went to open their own shop. And electricity is not helping matters too, because most times we need electricity to work. The cost of running Generator is not easy. But basically, customers are paying better now.
Running a business for 24 years, and still standing, how have you been able to sustain all the challenges over the years?
If you want to start any business at all, let it be the one you have a passion for. It should be something you enjoy doing and not what people are doing. Whenever I wake up in the morning, I’m eager to go to my shop. Even at home, I work, because I can think of a design and I go on the internet to look at different designs of it. So before I get to the shop, I already have what I’m going to do with the materials I have with me.
Most of my customers do trust me with their designs. I’ll look at their fabrics, having known the person I’m doing it for because people vary. I get to know my customer before sowing for them because you must know their taste and what they like.
Do you still have any of your customers that started with you?
Yes! I have Yeye Mojirade Amope. I have Mrs. Funmi Amope Odusanya. I have Galaxy, I have friends like Ronke Adebule. I have many friends I can’t really say their names off hand, but they’ve been with us since we started. I also have my family. I have been making my children’s clothes since they were young, though they were not paying then, they are paying now. (laugh) So I have good old and new customers, and I make sure I respect them because they are the one feeding me. I’m not one of the people that would say I don’t eat from the business, I respect my customers a lot, even if they are young.
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