In my last letter, I mentioned there was another dream before IGBAANI. This is that story.
The first dream
When it was time to choose a career path, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. Looking back, I think I was caught between passion and practicality.
While I waited to start university, I decided to build my first fashion brand. It wasn't IGBAANI, but in many ways, it's the reason IGBAANI exists today.
“It wasn't IGBAANI, but in many ways, it's the reason IGBAANI exists today.”
I designed modest clothing for women who wanted to dress modestly without sacrificing style. Every piece began as a rough sketch in my notebook.
I never wanted to recreate what someone else had already made. Even then, I was chasing originality. I didn't have the words for it at the time, but I was already designing what I now call wearable art.
From the Mero Styles archive.
Sketches becoming a first collection.
The business grew faster than I expected. People loved the clothes, and for the first time, strangers were choosing something that had once existed only in my imagination.
The lesson
But loving fashion and knowing how to run a fashion business turned out to be two very different things.
I struggled with production timelines, inconsistent quality, unreliable artisans, marketing, and, most of all, consistency. The biggest lesson, though, had nothing to do with fashion.
“I didn't know how to separate the business from myself.”
Every collection was funded with money my dad trusted me with. Every sale felt like success, so I spent freely without thinking about the next collection. I wasn't building a sustainable business, I was funding a lifestyle with a business I didn't yet understand.
Looking back now, I'm grateful for those mistakes because they taught me lessons no textbook ever could.
An interruption
Just as I was beginning to find my footing, life interrupted. I had to undergo surgery.
“Overnight, everything stopped. Fashion school. Designing. Creating.”
For a while, my only job was learning how to walk again. That season changed me in ways I didn't realise at the time.
And just when I thought I was ready to begin again, another decision would change the course of my life completely.
Until the next stitch,
Mero.