The tie and dye clothe (adire) that is popularly worn in the South western part of Nigeria, especially in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capita,l will soon become a global brand on or before 2030.
This was made known by Segun Ibigbami at a symposium marking the second International of Adire Rebranding Conference and Symposium held at the NUJ Press Centre, Abeokuta, Sunday.
He said, “We want to take adire to a level where the likes of C. Ronaldo , Barrack Obama and some other international personalities will found adire appealing.
“We intend to achieve this before 2030 and to set up a technology driven factory where we shall also make it available to the end users globally through our online sales platform which is under construction.”
Ibigbami frowned at a situation where someone has lived in Abeokuta for five years without putting on adire.
“It is so bad that some people have been leaving in Abeokuta for more than five years but have never worn adire at any given time, ye, they have the collection of foreign brand in their wardrobe thereby helping the economy of China, USA and other countries where they buy from. That kind of capital flight must stop henceforth, ” Ibigbami stated.
The chief executive officer of Adire Label Integrated Fashion Concept also spoke on the plans to make adire appealing to the youth through the help of the media and entertainment.
He also opened up on his intention to organise an annual Adire International Fashion Week, which will feature shows and exhibitions of adire in with super music stars like; Angelina Kidjo , Beyoncé, Rhiana, Jayz will be part of the show and wear adire publicly, probability for the first time in their lives.
While speaking at the event, Prince Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, who stood in for Chief Alaba Lawson, traced the advent of the production of adire to the door step of Iyalode Jojo of Egbaland in 1930.
