Modern Fashion: Addie Elabor of D’IYANU On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
Identify a fashion need in the market- What really helped me succeed quickly on my own is because I was able to identify a need in the market. I simply made products that were already in demand and filled a void in the market.
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Addie Elabor.
Addie launched D’IYANU in 2014 from her studio apartment in King of Prussia, PA with only six styles for women — one blouse, two dresses, and three skirts. Five months later, she quit her job and committed to D’IYANU full time. In 2016, her brother Dara joined as President, and his support and contributions have been invaluable in making us what we are today.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My entrepreneurial journey began in early 2013 after I had completed my master’s in International Marketing and couldn’t find a job in my field. I felt discouraged in my job search and deeply unhappy with my corporate job as a buyer for a lab supply company. I desperately needed a change. I had just read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and was super inspired to go against the grain and start my own business. I wasn’t quite sure which business, but I was searching for the right opportunity. After a few conversations with close friends, I had the idea to create a modern, ready-to-wear African-inspired line similar to Zara or H&M. I’m originally from Nigeria so I grew up with Ankara (wax printed fabric) clothing. After some research, I didn’t find any prominent brands creating modern pieces with African print, and realized that there was a void in the market for this type of fashion. Although I had no fashion background, I asked myself, “why not me?” I got books on starting a fashion business, did endless online research, and formulated a business plan. I hired a Philly-based fashion designer to create my first 6 patterns and samples, found a Philly-based factory for production, and sourced all the fabric and material. I self-funded the $20k starting capital from my savings and a credit card loan. D’IYANU launched in Jan 2014 while I was still working full-time. I decided to quit my full-time job in May 2014 to fully commit to D’IYANU. It was a sink or swim decision since my business wasn’t profitable and I was living in a small studio apartment with 70k worth of student loans. However, I truly believed in the vision for D’IYANU and am committed to making my business a success. In Sept of 2014, I took a course on FB ads which transformed my business practically overnight.
Can you share the most interesting story that has happened to you since you started?
The year I launched my business, I wore one of my skirts to an Essence Street Style Block Party in Brooklyn, NY. My goal was to pass out flyers and spread the word about my brand. I was randomly picked from the crowd to participate in a fashion show because of my outfit. I got to go backstage and met Tracy Ellis Ross and took a picture with her. It was an amazing experience!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
For my first round of D’IYANU garment production in Philadelphia, I imported around 1,200 yards of fabric. Having just traded in my car for a new one, I hadn’t received my car registration documents yet. I drove 3 hours to a port in New Jersey in my new SUV to pick up the fabric. I had completed all the necessary customs and clearance documents but didn’t realize that I also needed to show my car registration. The feeling of complete disappointment and distraught washed over me since I couldn’t simply just go and come back and I needed the fabric right away. I went to a library nearby in hopes of printing off a copy of my registration, but it wasn’t available. Nevertheless, determined not to go home empty-handed, I saw a truck driver that seemed approachable and asked him if he could pick up my goods for me. We agreed that I would pay him $50 to pick up my fabric. He was able to do so and once we were off-premise from the port, he transferred the fabric into my car. I was absolutely elated to have gotten my fabric that day!
I learned 2 valuable lessons from that experience. Firstly, make sure you do your due diligence before starting any endeavor. I don’t recall if I assumed that I had my car registration or if I wasn’t aware that I needed it. Either way, had I done my due diligence of checking, I wouldn’t have ran into the problem. Secondly, when you run into a problem, don’t get defeated and give up. Think of alternate ways to solve problems, remain focused on your goals, and determine to find solutions. Being a problem-solver is a fundamental characteristic of a successful entrepreneur.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
What makes D’IYANU stand out from other clothing brand is that we create beautiful and unique African-inspired pieces for the entire family that can’t be found anywhere else. Our pieces allow our customers to embrace and celebrate the African culture and uniquely express themselves.
One of the things that set us apart from other African-inspired lines is that we have always been customer-focused. Excellent customer service is our #1 priority. We are always thinking about our customers from our designs to our return and exchange policy. We make sure that our fabric and construction is of great quality and priced affordably. Our goal is to design clothing that our customers can wear for any life occasion from work to vacation and everywhere in between. We also explore the usage of different types of material in order to make garments that our customers love and appreciate. For example, we started using a new type of fabric for women’s dresses that looks like cotton and retains vibrant colors, but unlike the traditional Ankara fabric, it has stretch to accommodate every curve. No one else in the market is making African print on this type of fabric to our knowledge. We also launched a line of knit sweaters, skirts, dresses, hats, and scarves last year which was a huge success. We’re constantly innovating the way we present African print designs. We don’t limit ourselves to just wax cotton fabric like the rest of our competitors.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
In the beginning, unless you have the capital, you’ll have to be a jack of all trades and handle everything from customer service to financials. Even as you’re managing everything, you’ll need to learn to rest. It’s vital to know when to rest and not to quit when you’re feeling overwhelmed. There were days when I felt burnt out before D’IYANU even had any success, but I learned to rest and not stress on things beyond my capacity. As you begin to scale, you’ll need to hire the right team and delegate so you can free up your time. Learn to create processes and let go of certain tasks.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I have always wanted my business to create value in our various communities. Since year 2 in business, I made a commitment to give back each year to organizations that resonated with me and were making a difference. To date, we’ve donated over $60k to various organizations such as Water.org, Charity: Water, The Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, the National Society of Black Engineers, and a couple of others. There are still a lot of things I would like to do in the near future such as creating value in Africa through job creation.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
I love Maya Angelou’s quote “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive: and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style.
This quote is especially relevant to me at the time I thought to launch D’IYANU. During that period, I was just surviving, saddled with $70k in student loans, and felt miserable at my job. Starting my business gave me a sense of mission and injected excitement into my life. I also understand that the way you succeed matters. I want to make sure I’m leading my business with kindness, compassion, humor, and style.
Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
Something that excites me is the belief that Africa could be the next fashion hub. Due to lower labor costs and favorable trade agreements, some companies have already started moving their production to African countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya. My hope is that having more and more companies produce in Africa will help create jobs and lift the economies. I’m also really excited as D’IYANU plans to move some production to one of the west African countries of Ghana or Nigeria in the next 2–3 years. Additionally, looking forward to seeing more African designers emerge and make an impact in the fashion world.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Top 5 Things Needed to Succeed in the Fashion Industry”. Please share a story or example for each.
- Identify a fashion need in the market- What really helped me succeed quickly on my own is because I was able to identify a need in the market. I simply made products that were already in demand and filled a void in the market.
- Understand fashion business fundamentals or find someone to help with that- There are people who have great ideas and create amazing designs, however, without the understanding of the fundamentals of running a fashion business, their brand may not go so far if they run out of capital. At the beginning of launching D’IYANU, I was super paranoid about managing my costs and not running out of capital. Running out of funds is the number 1 reason why businesses fail.
- Identify cost-effective ways to market your brand– I took a $400 FB ad course which at the time seemed like a high investment, but it transformed my business overnight. FB ads were our cost-effective way of marketing D’IYANU.
- Hire the right team– Having the right team goes a long way. I was blessed to have my oldest brother, Dara, join the team at the beginning of 2016. Having his support has made the difference in getting D’IYANU to where it’s at today. It’s key to surround yourself with people with different expertise from you so that you can cover all your bases and take your brand to the next level.
- Find the right factories and produce quality products– Having the right factory can make or break your brand. You can have all the other key things in place, but if the product isn’t good, then people won’t come back or share your brand with their friends and family. In order to find the right factory, you’ll need to have them make samples that go through an approval process before ordering in bulk. You want to ensure they meet your standards. I recall one factory we used to work with that cut corners on a pair of women’s pants by not serging the seams (overlock stitch to secure the seams from ripping easily). This meant that the pants could easily rip at the seams. By the time we realized the magnitude of the problem, we had already shipped out close to 100 pairs. We decided to recall the pants; paying return shipping, getting them fixed and then reshipping to the customer. It was highly inconvenient and expensive for us, but it was worth it since it helped us gain our customers’ trust. After that incident, we also stopped working with the factory since they had made other errors and we couldn’t trust their quality of work.
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
The buzzword in the fashion industry right now is sustainability. The fashion industry is known to be quite wasteful with unused fabric and the burning of unsold products. More and more brands are becoming conscious of their environmental footprint. Upcycling and reselling old products are methods being used by brands like H&M and Madewell. At D’IYANU, we are determined not to have waste. Our recently launched Mid-Summer collection is comprised of fabric used in previous collections. We are committed to using up old fabric so that they don’t end up in landfills.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would start a movement to empower black communities all over the world to spark a change in the way we operate and treat each other. I strongly believe that black people can do better as a collective by taking responsibility for creating the world they wish to live in. We can’t continue to have a victim mentality. We are full of limitless potential and can achieve so much if we can learn to work together. As a Nigerian, I know that Nigeria is blessed with natural resources and brilliant minds, however, we lack strong leaders with integrity to push the country forward. The country has been plagued with obscene levels of corruption, selfishness, greed, and instability. Imagine if we decided to create a society where everyone can feel safe and thrive. Imagine if black people around the world could say, I’m going to Ghana or Nigeria because it’s the land of opportunities. Instead, people in Africa typically consider western countries (made up primarily of whites), the land of opportunity. Let’s turn the tables around.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
@diyanu on IG and Tiktok and diyanufashion on FB. [email protected] for questions.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Addie Elabor of D’IYANU On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.