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o oue in I,is or he-r right senses wiD walk
around flaked. Similarly. people living without dothh 19 liTe considered pfimordWII
because ever} normal and modem day person is exp!dec! to wear delnes. Oath sewing i~, theJ ~fore. a limitless business lhal brings in pl onl 'A/hatever way it is done, lind in whichever community.
Apart from n,uUng people's essential need of covering th :!ir bodies. dress making is a hclndiwOlk tha one derives satis fa ction from, especlally v.her , one sees the beautiful work on his client
To 50me prrctitioners, there 15 hardly any othe r eMier Wl-Y 10 success than learning and knowing how to make people look eltacOy how th ey wanl to be al any particular time. or count' . II is ge nerally believed thai
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nd in any handiwork-based
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in the busines ; Is in the ability of the practitioner to make different designs with great appeals Operators bo:lieve thai. apa rt Irom knowing how to sew good d resses . .here IS the need 10 input business promotion
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will give the oovnet an edge over others. For ins tance, there are ~eral w~ys of meeting potential customers for various nev..' clothing lines. This could be by seeking oul sales agents and bU,ler5 or retailers. It may a.I.so be through major departmental ,tores or boutiques. The operal(r5 say the business of dress making can be enhanced by talking to pr05pective customers and asking them the type], 01 clothes they ~re looking for. they Be.slde," d say once. a dress the mar et an scape. it is est to d eCI e t e """" way Ii! or she is going t-> distribute the products. According to them, distribution channels can also dic tate the quality, quantity and costing strudure of the clothing line:. A dress make r. Mrs. Oyeyinka Badejoko. says she went into the business because it caught her fancy as ~a very interesting business. Bade}oko. whose designing outlet is located in Mowe, Ogun Slate , explains that she started f ~'\ operating on her own after two _ __ ~ ! years of training. • D' r e ctu,·G e n era I , She says. "Every client wan ts Man u 1 a c f " r e r • a dress maker or a designer to A ssor;lat'oll 01 NIge ria , keep to time in the areas of job Mr. J /de Mike
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According to her, more hands may be needed as the businessgrO\\I5. Besides, outsourcing is an oplion. Adesigner may not have a shop or an outleL All he or she does is to
ress rna 109 nves on a ey ~::U=el~~a!~j~o~:~I:nd~e~~~~~~~a~~~~:~ei:, human need who has his own shop. outsourcing helps to meet serious • Being up-to-date creates special edge appointmen ts and agreements with clients? P f d k II t -You can start the busine55 with amoun ts ranging between • ro iciency an s i promo e NSO.OOO and N1SO,OOO, depending on the projected business size of a busine55 one has in his mind. The business is •
A good customer service enhances
growth , profitability. finishing and d. 'lveRl, Jobs sho"d L._ delivered according .~ uo=to the agreement reached between the practitioner and the d ient. Acco rding to her, lraining in a good fashion school is compulsory so tha I an operlltor can meet up with the: current t' e:nd in Ihe business. Besides. she says it m~y be dirficult for iII·trained persons to be competitive in the millrkel. - I attended two different fas hion schools to brush myself up on the job. Even though I am the bou of my own business. I am still learning because fashion is not slatic; it changes every day, · she illdds. She adds that renting or acquiring a shop may not be necessary. -An operator can reach out to customers from his Of her house. Customers come to my shop and I also go to some of them to collect doths, which I la ter return to them afler sewing. What matters to a customer Is the quality of your job.- she notes.
profitable. But it needs a 101 of concentration, focus and courage to make it. It a lso lakes patience to sustain a good clientele level because some clients'needs are ins<'ltiable,· she adds. Anothe r practitioner. Mr Jimoh Gbadamosi, who says
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been in the business lor 10 years. The owner of Oaily Designs says he chose the business because of the love he has lor fashion . _I love fashion and I like seeing people look good. I thought within myself that one o f the best ways to express myself was to ge t Into the bUSIness So I decided to make a career of dress making and fashion design: he says. He adds. ~My parents could nol afford 10 pay my school fees. So. I was asked to decide the type of trade I wanted to lea rn. My mind d id not go to any o ther business except sewing. although then. I was considered 100 young. but I could understand that everybody wears clothes and I would be able to make profit from the business According to him, the business is profil-oriented. as an operator can make hall of the cost price of the cloth as profit. He says it Is a kind of business, where beginners can start lrom their rooms, especially if they can't afford to rent From there, the business can grow to the extent
of gelling a shop. and later. registering a business name. "The business size, either large or small scale, depends on the capital on ground. But aside from the shop rental zones of the CDUTlIry so as to boost cotton productioo. fee , NSO.OOO may be enough to begin the ~Un til v..oe under5tand government's eff0rt5 and its assistance. and business. All you need is to buy a sewing are informed about loans and other iTlp!emen1s toward bc:xlsting c.obon machine I'l l the minimum sum 0 1 N I 9.000; produdion, I£xtile fadories wit mnain dosed," he warned I a lA.~aving machine olllOOut N21,OOO and Meanwhile, the Kbduna Slate Agrirultural Development other sewing materials, _ he says. Programme has begun to sensitlse farmers to the: importan~ of cotlon According to him, the major chaUenge is production. power. Totackle this, he says one only needs The programme's Head of Media, Mr Shehu Aiiyu, said the sensilisalion to buy a generator 01 about N12,OOO. But the most important skills required lor Mel !itarted yielding positive results. noting that many farmers had gone the business to thrive and grow, he says, into cotton farming in the state due to the experience and Information they are customer service·related. garnered from the exertise.
Fal'mer urges govt to revive cotton production r:ommerc.a1 farmer In Kaduna State, A1haji A1kasim Ibrahim. on Tue5days!N5Sed the need for the Federal Ga...oemment to revive carton productlon so that moribund textile factories could ~. SpeoIOng It) the News Agency of NIgerio in Bimin WOW, Ibrahim said
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thai. the asI be:::Dme impercilive because the 5U!itenarU 01 the tedile industry depended on he ability d the ~ to tum around oonon farming He descrit ed as unfortunate a 5ltuaOOn where cotton farmers were neither fully mobilised nor enlightened on the efforts being made by the gouernment t' l revive the agriculture sedor:. Ibrahim nc.ted that. many farmers did not undmtand efforts being made by reseatdl ir stitutes to produce assooed cIltIon seeds for each d the six