Fashion art fusion to champion wear Nigeria campaign

In a bid to ensure that more people buy and wear Nigerian made outfits as well as key into the federal government’s resolve to diversify the Nigerian economy, organisers of Fashion Art Fusion have announced its third edition.

Speaking at an event in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of Luzol and founder of Fashion Art Fusion Austin Aimanhku said that this year’s event, billed for November, is a connubial of fashion, drama, dance and alternative music. The whole idea is to use a popular art form to promote the less known art forms like spoken words, dance, alternative music among others.

“Thus far, we are happy that it has been well received over the years. This year, the Federal Government will be using the platform to promote the Wear Nigeria campaign which is hinged on its policy to diversify the economy.”

Commenting on the challenges the fashion industry is faced with, Aimanhku noted that the textile industry has been neglected for too long, forcing the second biggest employer of labour outside the Federal Government to go under.

“It was also a major source of revenue for government and for Nigerians. But today, 90 per cent of the fabrics we use in Nigeria are imported; 80 per cent of them smuggled. We have local weavers all around the country who are not celebrated, recognised or acknowledged, we need to discover them, empower them by providing resources to produce these local fabrics in large quantity so that we can now export”, Aimanhku added.

The Director Entertainment and Creative Services, Ministry of Information, Culture, Tourism and National Orientation Grace Gekpe who is partnering with Fashion Art Fusion said that the government will embark on a pilot study with four states in country to help improve their indigenous fabrics.

“This is a way of empowering our people at the local levels, when we talk of economic diversification, if we can empower people at the grassroots, people will not drift to major cities and the value chain will improve. That is why we thought it necessary to partner with Luzol this year,” she said.

The event will take the form of a three-day carnival featuring fabrics exhibition on a runway. This year Fashion Art Fusion will also be supporting the Down Syndrome Foundation.