Jumoke Azeez Built A Fashion Brand In Ibadan, Not Lagos
Ibadan · Saturday 26 September 2026
Jumoke Azeez has been profiled at 40 as the entrepreneur who built a fashion brand from Ibadan. The story is less about a single collection than about where she chose to build it.
The Lagos assumption
Nigerian fashion is usually told as a Lagos story: the fashion weeks, the celebrity clients, the showrooms on the Island. Designers from elsewhere are expected to move there eventually. Building a brand in Ibadan, and staying, runs against that assumption.
| Building in Ibadan | Building in Lagos |
|---|---|
| Lower rent and staff costs | Much higher overheads |
| A large local market that is underserved | A crowded one |
| Less media attention | More of it |
| Deep adire and aso-oke traditions nearby | Suppliers, but further from the craft |
The costs favour Ibadan. The visibility favours Lagos. Online sales narrow the gap.
Nigerian fashion is bigger than one city. It just gets photographed in one city.
What other cities can take from it
Ibadan is one of the largest cities in West Africa, with a university population, a big middle class and centuries of textile craft on its doorstep. The question is not whether fashion businesses can succeed there. It is why more of them are not trying.
Reporting: THISDAY and Naijapreneur.
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