In life own a fashion brand

Written by Zahra Mukadam.

A look at what a black-owned business really looks like: insights, struggles and advice from the successful African print brand Cultureville

Diving into the fashion industry and starting your own brand can be very challenging, especially if you are black. This has been reported from a black owned business lower income than other ethnicities in terms of average turnover. This can be attributed to several issues around financial access, household income, and social capital. Just under 0.25% of venture capital funding went to black-owned businesses between 2009 and 2019. But, as Cultureville has proven, you can still succeed beyond chance. Small business owners Jane and Adeola gave us first-hand insight into what it’s like to be a black business owner in today’s fashion industry.

Can you give us an overview of your company, Cultureville, and how your journey into the fashion industry started?

Jane: Cultureville is an African-inspired fashion brand. We are passionate about working with local traders in West Africa and we work with a predominantly female team from Ghana and Nigeria. Our business came up through Adeola and I looked for African print clothing and couldn’t find it. Whenever we have an event, we want to showcase our African heritage. Actually, Adeola moved to Nigeria a few years ago and she is about to bring back the most beautiful dresses. All I ever saw were things that aunties brought that didn’t suit you and were very ugly. It finally feels like African prints can be beautiful, reflect your personality and be modern at the same time. We put a few items on Depop and that’s how we got started. The folks at Depop love it too. When we ran out of prints, people demanded the prints. We had orders from Italy, America, Germany and at that point we decided we should get our own website and we did. And the rest is history.

What do you think are the main difficulties you face as a black fashion business owner?

Adeola: Getting stocked. Like having your pieces at Selfridges or a similar place. We don’t have a network and we don’t look like the average fashion owner. Wed goes to a sizable store to meet their shoppers who usually buy the incoming brand. Wed showed them some of our African print outfits and I felt they underestimated us a lot more. It’s a hard thing just knowing that your average shopper or the average person who has the power to take you to a larger store with a larger audience won’t necessarily appreciate what you bring.

People also feel they can’t wear our stuff because it’s an African print. We experienced it at our Christmas market where sometimes some people comment like you don’t deserve to be here or how did they get to the Christmas market?. Stuff like that is a little disappointing and frustrating, and you feel like the world has come this far, but then you still hear these comments, and it could just be like oh my god, we’re not as far away as you think.

Jane: People also have a reluctance to get involved with our products. They try to be culturally sensitive, but in doing so, they choose not to interact with the African mold. They say it’s beautiful but it’s not for me, and inadvertently what they do is they reduce market share for us because they don’t want to take risks and educate themselves about cultural appropriation versus appreciation. It does a disservice to African brands, or the people who work with African prints because you are essentially rejecting their segment of the market. People do that because they don’t want to offend but also, I think it can be a little lazy at times, and that has an impact on black owned brands.

Adeola: And if you think about Italian clothes, we don’t order them just for Italians, do we? As I know a Caucasian guy who works in a corporate company will wear an Italian suit and don’t feel weird at all. I think people are much more sensitive about [anything black related] and then impacting our ability to monetize our business which also impacts the communities we support. In addition, sometimes there are difficulties in obtaining funding. We applied for funding from a company and I remember people helping us like oh it’s so easy nobody ever had a problem. But when it came to the final stages, they ended up asking us more questions than usual. We will send the application and they will send it back. That person like I have never seen anything like this, never took this long. I don’t know why your application has to go through so many hoops. In an organization you face racism and it drives you to build your own brand. You think I have my own business, I don’t have to face racism now. Then you still deal with it from external organizations and people who provide finance for businesses. Many black-owned businesses are smaller and that’s because they don’t get funding from banks or other lenders. Especially black women.

What advice would you give to those who face racial bias on their fashion journey?

Jane: Willing to say it, educate and actually be like: “What you are doing is unintentionally racist and you may have the best intentions, but here comes the impact”. I would also say surround yourself with people who will excite you. There were times where, when it all came down to funding, we were really disappointed because we knew it was because we are a Nigerian brand. We were just really pissed off and having each other to push ourselves really helped. When it comes to racial bias, just look for an organization that understands you. There are services available for black-owned brands to help improve the progress of your business.

Are there specific companies, initiatives or platforms that have helped your company excel?

Adeola: Black pound day is the first Saturday of the month, and it’s a day to encourage you to really make a conscious effort to get out of your way of shopping from black owned businesses. They also have a lot of resources.

Another is BOB Expo. Based in Manchester and they mainly focus on black business. They had fairs once or twice a year, where all the black-owned businesses got together and then people could come and actually shop at the black-owned businesses.

Other initiatives that are not necessarily black, include the Manchester Youth Market, The Princes Trust, The Young Entrepreneurs of England and Enterprise Nation.

What is your favorite black fashion and beauty business?

Travel by Jarissa clay jewelry

Remove Jewelry West African inspired jewelry

Spectacular Beauty Artist makeup artist

What does the black history month mean to you?

Adeola: Consciously celebrating our history, and to know more about what you didn’t know. Many TV stations and magazines seek to highlight black content in Black History Month, so it’s time to express it and simply celebrate what black people have contributed to society today.

Jane: To anyone who wants to start a business or a black person doing it, don’t let anything get in your way. Sometimes we seek permission to get started and you don’t really need it. Often you can start it yourself. So instead of waiting for the organization to stamp you or someone else to give you permission to start what you want to start, do it. Once you start doing [what you’re good at] and people see that you are good, they will come. As a black person, many times you experience negative things like all the things you can’t do because you’re black. But I will never let go of my darkness. I love us. I love black humor, black food and everything black. Black History Month is an opportunity to shine a light on all the good things but also all the hurdles we’ve been through and just have fun celebrating it all.

Is there anything else you think is important to share with our audience?

Jane: For anyone who wants to start a business or a black person doing it, don’t let anything get in your way. Sometimes we seek permission to get started and you don’t really need it. Often you can start it yourself. So instead of waiting for the organization to stamp you or someone else to give you permission to start what you want to start, do it.

If you want to follow the Culturevilles journey, check them out at Instagram or on them website, and be sure to use the discount code: FORTHECULTURE !