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By Vivian Onyebukwa
Oguntala Tobiloba is the Founder and Creative Director of TalaRayce, a Lagos-based fashion brand. He is an electrical engineer and fashion entrepreneur who emphasises confidence, culture, and legacy in his designs. He said studying engineering in school has been amazing because technically engineering is problem solving.
In this interview, he spoke about his journey into fashion business, challenges and fashion as a whole.
What inspired your career in fashion designing after studying engineering?
What inspired my career in fashion designing was number one- the passion, but majorly because I needed to make money. It is true that I had a passion for fashion but beyond that, it was a thing I felt like I could solve problem, actual problem for people. I saw the gap in the market and I felt like I could make money for myself because fashion designers disappoint and I knew that if I could crack that code, then maybe, yes.
How long have you been in the business?
I have been over seven years in business running TalaRayce since 2019.
What inspires your idea in designing?
The ideas for designing basically I get from anything. I get inspired from whatever I see and I can feel, such as colours, arts, and I gravitate towards comfort. So whatever makes me comfortable, unique, yes.
What were your early challenges in the business and how were you able to surmount them?
My early challenge in business was lack of training, because I went into the business without proper training. When I say training, it doesn’t mean learning how to sew practically. That is included but there’s some sort of training, stewardship that comes from that I believe, should be in place before going into businesses like this. It kind of buys you a lot of time and error. So I learned from mostly my experience rather. Surmounting it, you pay for it either way- Pay with your time, money, maybe some other things.
Investigation has shown an influx of foreign-made clothes. What’s the implication of this influx?
Influx of foreign made clothes has always been there, even before we came into fashion. But I must say that Nigerians are now embracing theirs even much more than it used to be. So you can see more people gravitate towards selling, making tailored suit than buying, which has also helped the industry. A lot of people now want to wear natives, which has also helped the industry. So I feel like this is a good one and things are gradually changing in that regard.
In what ways do you think it will affect local designers?
I think that, like I said earlier, it’s definitely going to encourage local market because we can see, the world is looking at Africa as we speak. And Africa, we are also not taking any chances. We are working hard to ensure that we are able to meet up with first hand demand, and then the global demand. So I think that a lot of changes are going to happen in the next decade and definitely the fashion industry in Nigeria, Africa is going to be super, super big.
Many youths seem not to be interested in learning fashion design anymore. How can they be encouraged to develop interest in fashion design?
Fashion designing is very challenging. It requires a lot of efforts and to be honest, there’s nothing that’s actually easy. But if there’s one thing I know, it is that the market is open for all and it is a huge market and it can get even way bigger. So if you want to make money, then you should be in fashion because you’re going to make money if you get it right. And to get it right, you have to work hard.
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In what ways do you think fashion designing will contribute to the nation’s development?
Of course, fashion designing is going to contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), definitely. Entertainment has been doing that. Agriculture too. Fashion designing is just a matter of time. It will definitely contribute to the country’s GDP. Employment wise, just in TalaRayce, we have over 20 employees working directly with us, and some that are even working indirectly with us that we do not calculate. So we are contributing immensely to the nation’s development.
What are some of the challenges facing fashion designing business and what’s the way out?
Lack of structure in the industry is one of the challenges. Dependency on imports, too. So Majority of all those raw materials you use is being imported. Again, sometimes the artisans and tailors are quite challenging. There’s just a very huge gap in the industry in terms of structure, especially the industrial part of the industry, which we need to fix.
How is the current economic crunch affecting fashion designers, and how are you able to navigate through the situation?
Economic crunch definitely affected a lot of buying power of a lot of folks. I mean purchasing power. But then staying afloat has just been God who is the ultimate. Then strategy- positioning yourself and trying to find other things to up sell to make more money. So basically, that has been it. But other than that, you need to go out more, sell more and explore.
How long do you intend to stay in this business?
I will be in the business as long as I am impacting lives, as long as people wear clothes, as long as the dream is still fired up. So I wish I would work till that time and maybe, it’s going to be for generations, centuries.
Are you fulfilled?
Of course, I’m fulfilled because every day we solve problems for people, put smile on people’s faces, make them happy, make them look good, and make them confident. Then I’m happy.
What would you like the government to do to uplift the fashion industry?
May be grants, because, fashion can be really expensive when you want to do it the right way, in the right scale. So grants may be given to may be factories that produce items such as textile, threads and all these things. The government can just drive down the cost of things.
How do you succeed in the midst of competition?
It is about finding your unique selling point, and what you bring to the table. When you discover that, you don’t need anything more.
Do you make only male or unisex fashion?
We make both, but our female line is very subtle, so we don’t market it a lot of times because, we focus mainly on male clothing.
What is your fashion advice to men?
My fashion advice for men is to dress confident and smart. Wear comfortable and premium. Never think that you don’t wear that dark clothes that you love. Just wear it. Basically, fabric depends on the concept and the design you are working with. So I do not have a specific fabric that I love working with, so I opt for fabric that is suitable for a design.
