Ireti Zaccheaus’s Six African Brands to Watch in 2022

Fashion
Lists and Bits
3 minute read

We spoke to the 22-year-old entrepreneur about her favourite brands from Nigeria and beyond, ahead of this weekend's Street Souk convention.

This weekend, Lagos’ fashion scene will descend on the latest instalment of Street Souk – Africa’s first and biggest streetwear convention, founded by 22-year-old entrepreneur Ireti Zaccheaus to help amplify new and established brands from Nigeria and beyond. Having caught up with Ireti earlier this year, The Basement asked her to share her favourite streetwear brands from Nigeria and beyond ahead of this weekend’s event.

WAFFLESNCREAM (WAF)

Ireti: “WAF were the first ever skate brand to come out of Nigeria. They have constantly reinvented themselves; their quality, their brand – everything has always been top notch. It’s a brand that I’ve just always loved, and wanted since like 2013 – it’s one of my favorite brands.”

Ashluxe

Ireti: “Another brand to look out for is ASHLUXE. Ashluxe is the biggest luxury streetwear brand in Africa right now. The quality, the print and the design is literally out of this world, something really unique to us. It’s very exciting to see the growth, and how [Yinka Ash, Founder and Creative Director] is pushing boundaries and, you know, putting on for the whole country. Everywhere you go in Lagos for example, at least two, three people will be in Ashluxe. People would rather wear Ashluxe than most of the international luxury fashion brands out in Nigeria, so it is very very impressive. We have a really dope collaboration coming out as well.”

MAK

Ireti: “MAK is an upcoming streetwear brand. Their denim has been really cool, and they’ve been dropping a lot of stuff recently. MAK had a few runway shows that I’ve seen and I was very impressed with the quality of the fabric, how the stuff looks and how they shoot their editorials…their whole process has been very interesting.”

THIRSTY LAB

Ireti: “Another brand that I really like is THIRSTY LAB. Again, denim. They’re really dope, like their denim is so fire – I love them! It’s things I know that I would wear, and a lot of the population is interested in too. They also do denim hats as well, like with rips, and they can do custom. I’m a big fan of THIRSTY.”

5200

Ireti: “Now this is a really dope brand. I wore 5200FLEECE denim at last year’s Street Souk, and I remember literally getting so many comments about it. Again, very innovative. My custom pants on the day of Street Souk will be by 5200 again, so I’m really looking forward to that.”

Free The Youth

Ireti: “This year, we got FreeTheYouth in the mix. That’s like literally one of my favorite streetwear brands out right now. It’s a brand from Ghana expressing the Ghanaian and African youth culture. Those are my brothers, and they’ve been dropping hits for ages: the denim collection, the collaboration with Daily Paper, and now the Street Souk exclusive they’re dropping on the day. I’m really really excited and I can’t wait.”