Dress making not for school dropouts

Gone are the days when vocations such as dressmaking were a preserve for school dropouts or for those considered not intelligent.
Now people who are into ‘mainline’ professions such as journalism make efforts to acquire some vocational skills to supplement their income, particularly dressmaking.

Along the lines some even drop their ‘mainline’ careers to go into full time vocations. Governments increasingly view skills development as an important factor towards enhancing productivity, stimulate economic competitiveness and take people out of poverty.

Majority of Ghanaian women and even men who are into fashion designing and dressmaking have become icons, boosting the image of such vocations hitherto looked down upon.

Fashion designing was taken a step higher last year with the launch of Fashion in Africa (FIA) project, aimed at setting the stage for more African countries to join in the quest to promote African fashion and culture collectively to the rest of the continent and the globe.

The FIA project envisages an increase fashion-related business opportunities and to open doors for all stakeholders in the fashion industry.

It will also create opportunities for other African countries to trade with each other, to the benefit of Africa as a whole, thus supporting the NEPAD initiative.

In Ghana now, Fashion Designer Eunice Ayiku-Nartey is behind the contemporary women’s and men’s clothing label EM, by EUNIMAKS’ Dress Designers and Interior Decorations in Accra.

She told Public Agenda in an interview, “Dressmaking is for those who have the flair, are talented and really want to achieve their aim. It is never for drop outs.”

Eunice says with the help of her mother, who was an excellent seamstress; she realized her natural talent after her search for her true identity in 1991.
She attended Accra High School and proceeded to study embroidery at the Singer Sewing Machine Centre at Abossey Okai, now known as Kalbs Sewing Centre.

She did a further course in fashion designing at Blake College in London, United Kingdom. While there, she had her internship at the Army and Navy stores at Guildford.

When she returned to Ghana, she felt the best option was to continue with her interest in sewing and so she took several courses on entrepreneurship and then established EUNIMAKS at Adabraka, which has become the fashion home.

A member of the Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI) EUNIMAKS has since grown from local to international class and still growing.

Items produced daily range from traditional wear to shirts, bags, skirts, dresses, blouses, trousers and headgear.

She has participated in a lot of fashion shows and exhibitions, locally and internationally with a special reference to a 1993 Kaba Show sponsored by UAC where she emerged the second runner up.

Her designs ranges are for the trendy young, Afro centric clothes for both sexes and the conservative for older people. Eunice is a stanch Presbyterian and hails from Ada.

“I have never regretted venturing into fashion designing / dressmaking because through it I meet different kinds of people and it keeps me going and financially profitable.”

As with any business, she says the fashion designing industry is seasonal and one needs to create a lot to explore opportunities that come.

For her, creativity is not a big deal. “As I relax in the evening, the idea comes so I sketch and do the cutting early morning.”

Even though she faces a major challenge to source loans for the expansion of her vocation, she is glad that her clothes are being won outside Ghana, like the United States of America and United Kingdom. She disclosed that she has so far trained over 50 people who are on their own now.

As a social responsibility, EUNIMAKS sometimes offers free training to needy but talented people.
“I am happy I chose this profession. I am also motivated by the fact that sewing can be done anywhere, even in one’s bedroom. Even when I am sick at home I am able to sew.” She is proud that EUNIMAKS has over the years built a satisfied clientele and is sure of its steps into the future.