Zebra – Defining The Nigerian High Street Environment

Easily one of the hardest working woman on the Nigerian fashion scene, Mrs. Ugoma Adegoke is a favourite on SHF; hardly a month goes by that we don’t hear from Zebra. Whether it is a SALE or a Capoeira class or sometimes even promoting another designer’s work like she did with Zainabu Ashadu and D’Lune’s bag line. It is hard to believe that only four years ago, she was her own model, driver, advertiser, PR consultant, messenger, accountant, and photographer. SHF gets a sneak peek of the new collection, the inspiration behind it and how Zebra is blazing the way of high street fashion culture.

Tell us about what Zebra Living has to offer its customers? Classic, quality and affordable fashion with a twist of lifestyle and a sprinkle of fun and community!

In terms of retail, Zebra has evolved over the years from hosting regular trunk shows to having its own boutique, what are some of the lessons you have learned concerning consumer habits?

I have learnt that my customers are mostly dynamic strong women who know exactly what they want and are very decisive even through changing trends. This has made me put even more of my back into my work, design and trend wise to ensure that we have more hits than misses with each collection. Particularly as Zebra has physically moved over the years from cafe to lounge, and back with our trunk of dresses and goodies and our customers have supported us by going where we ask and buying our pieces. I have also learnt that customer service is the very essence of fashion retail and every little personal touch we’ve ever added to our retail process has never gone unnoticed and as a result, we’ve had repeat customers who are happy and constantly yearning for more Zebra.

Zebra is one of the few Nigerian brands that offers its consumers the option of buying online…what has the response been so far? There is huge potential for this to become a major buying gateway for our Nigerian clientele although to a large extent most of our clients like most Nigerians are very weary of fraud schemes and about buying online, and general card detail security.

What do you think about new and emerging e-outlets for African designers like myasho.com?
They are definitely bridging a gap and connecting keen buyers and fans of African fashion with their favorite designers and brands.

Zebra recently introduced late night shopping. Do you think people will rather shop than go home early to beat weekend traffic?

We have found that some discerning shoppers who want to fuse shopping with some after-work fun (and of course beat the constant Lagos traffic) are extremely delighted at the notion of late night shopping and it is a wonderful thing for us to see late night shopping evolve into yet another social shopping activity. It thoroughly affirms our vision and takes us a step further to bringing a high-street culture to the Lagos shopping and fashion scene.

Being such an affordable brand and constantly pushing the boundaries, how is Zebra able to remain competitive and still make a profit? Ethics, hardwork and major bargain hunting. I work bloody hard. I haggle and will go to the ends of the earth for raw materials and trinkets. I have also always been convinced that Zebra’s success would come from appealing to a larger clientele and generating our revenue through a volume retail strategy. We’ve stayed the course on this policy despite many prods and pushes to increase our prices. This means that in general, we need to push the brand extra harder to reach a wider and more varied client base (prudent and extravagent clients alike) so that we can benefit from the volume purchases. This also ensures that we don’t have to inject abnormal profit margins into our pricing to keep our heads above water.

How would you rate the welfare of the Zebra workforce? I know they would tell you they are very happy and that their madam and oga love them. I love them. My husband and I love them. We are a big happy family. We fight, we laugh, we cry, we jubilate. We look out for each other.

Are there pension schemes, holiday pay, insurance etc. in place? We are working towards a tighter HR policy every day. As we started in my mum’s garage and have grown so rapidly into the business we are today, I haven’t gotten round to everything. But they have clothing allowances, medical support, annual holiday pay and bonus schemes in place, not to mention the many many gifts they get. For example excess fabric from suppliers always gets passed down to them and they make clothes for their families. They have access to company loans as well.

Zebra is known to be young, chic and funky. Are you planning on doing clothes to cater to the more mature market?Should we expect a couture collection soon?
I am going with the flow and truly doing what I love and if couture tugs enough at me then it’s something I could definitely do. There are lots of couture elements in our production style anyway, so it could be an interesting development…. that we can definitely do with my friend.

Tell us about the inspiration behind your latest womenswear collection?
The recent changes in my life.

When should we expect it in stores?
August 2010. Some sneak peaks are already available – Check it out!