From their materials to production to the way they treat their employees, Omazin International has been sustainable since the first day it started operations.
Founded by Chioma Nnanna, Omazin International, a fashion company operating in the greater Lagos area, is leading the way for sustainability in the country’s fashion industry.
For Chioma, sustainable fashion is key, and their business focus is to incorporate the recycling and reuse of fabrics into the production process to create clothing with minimal environmental impact.
It was inspired by her interest in the fashion and lifestyle industries. Her brief career as a model also inspired her to venture into the fashion business.
“I never really pursued modeling as a career and only modeled occasionally, but as an avid people watcher and social observer, I was able to pick up on the practices I admired and those I didn’t,” she said.
“In 2020, while I still had a full-time job, I decided I wanted to go into fashion as a business to implement some of the ideas I had developed over the years,” Nnanna explained.
Since its inception, the business has continued to grow steadily. A look at the company’s operations shows a deep passion and dedication to bring about meaningful change in the fashion industry and society at large.
Some initiatives, he said, started by the company include its ‘No Fabric Wasted’ program, in which its waste fabrics are turned into clothing and sold at prices below their regular prices instead of being thrown away.
His company also recently announced the upcoming launch of Opcycled by OMZN, a subset that recycles donated clothing into new fashion styles.
OMZN’s ecological and people-focused vision is described in many other ways, from production to brand communication.
The company recently launched its official blog site called The Spiral, where it will share details of its operations, news, insights, and stories reported by the fast-paced fashion industry.
The company currently operates through an e-commerce web channel (omazin.shop) and on its social media platforms. A mobile application is planned to be launched to fully automate all of the company’s operations.
Although OMZN is already building a strong customer base, the company is still in the pre-seed stage and will begin its first round of seed funding in the second quarter of the year.
“Currently, our core catalog is marketed to women in Nigeria and the Nigerian/African Diaspora ages 25-40 who are income earners or business owners,” she said.
“However, supporting projects like the No Fabric Wasted program are aimed at students and women of all demographic groups who are looking for unique and affordable pieces of clothing.”
On near-term business plans, he said that OMZN plans to include a gender-neutral line that makes clothes that anyone can wear regardless of their gender.
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On his long-term plan, he said that the business plans to serve all markets along the fashion value chain.
On the challenges facing the business, he explained that running a business in the Nigerian market is particularly challenging as there are diverse people with diverse interests, so meeting the needs of such a large market can be challenging.
“To maneuver this, we employ creative thinking, innovation and a listening spirit,” he added.
“Navigating what I call ‘bad habits’ in the fashion industry is also a big challenge for us. Some of these “bad habits” include unreliable tailors and a lack of attention to detail.
“To curb this, we incentivize our tailors with supportive work environments and good wages, and provide them with strict production guidelines to follow,” he said.
“As we further scale and digitize our operations, we will introduce a mobile app that will allow our tailors to be accountable and meet deadlines,” he explained.
He also hinted that logistics and courier services are also a major challenge for our business, as customers want to receive their orders as quickly as possible, and while they try to process orders quickly, the company cannot control the actions of partners. external messaging.
