The buy Nigerian wave has officially gone International thanks to Nigerian retailer, Zazaii. The multi brand retailer, helmed by Isoken Ogiemwonyi is opening it’s first stand alone North American store in Toronto, Canada. The store will showcase a curated edit of Nigerian and African designers – from both men’s and women’s apparel, to jewellery and accessories.
The move was a deliberate response to the slowdown in sales at the Lagos store, due to the country being in a recession. Isoken, not being one to be slowed down, immediately switched tactics and created a retail partnership with ZUVAA. The partnership created a pop up series in 10 cities across America where people in the diaspora could finally shop their favorite African brands. The success of these pop ups inspired her as she realised a “more substantial International presence was crucial” to their continued growth.
Talking about her exciting new venture, Isoken describes the Toronto store as an ” incredible opportunity to finally bring a range of aesthetic and creative visions and high quality independent designer brands to the wider North American market.There is nothing like what we do here and since Toronto is a growing destination for fashion (Saks, Nordstrom and OFF WHITE just opened), we are glad to have the opportunity to welcome it’s discerning residents to our store to discover African fashion”.
We love the fact that African fashion brands will now be more accessible to the world with ventures like this. Between Davido & Orange Culture’s Selfridges debut and Zazaii Toronto – the last quarter of 2017 is looking pretty damn fashionable.