Rosemary Orokoyo - Weaving Success in the Fashion Industry with Teddies Afrique

From the comforting hum of a sewing machine in her mother's workshop to the bustling energy of her own fashion studio in Montgomery Village, Rosemary Orokoyo's journey is a tapestry woven with determination and style. Our latest guest, the founder of Teddies Afrique, shares an intimate narrative of how a simple childhood fascination evolved into a flourishing bespoke clothing empire. She stitches together stories of personalizing her wedding gown into a unique treasure, educating the youth in the art of sewing, and her innovative outreach to individuals with autism, all while giving us an insider's view of the intricate world of custom fashion design.

Rosemary's heart beats to the rhythm of her sewing machine, a testament to the power of passion in driving an entrepreneur's success. As she unfolds the fabric of her experiences, listeners are treated to a rich blend of wisdom for budding designers and business hopefuls alike. The conversation unravels the complexities of growing a fashion brand, from the precision of software in crafting the perfect fit to the joy of enhancing clients’ confidence with custom-tailored luxury. Her words are a warm embrace for anyone with a dream to weave their path in the vibrant tapestry of the fashion industry.

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Transcript

Custom Clothing Brand

Speaker 1 0:30

My name is Rosemary Orokoyo. I am a fashion designer, the owner of Thaddeus Afrique. So Thaddeus Afrique is a one-stop custom clothing brand for I'll call it an anthropocentric clothing brand for men, women and children, and we specialize in weddings, prom dresses and any special occasion and any special occasion. So we try to encourage you may to feel comfortable in your personal style and the type of body shape they have. Women are very, very conscious of their body type, so we try to make them know that we can enhance your clothing to fit your body type for you, yeah, so that you can feel very comfortable. So our goal is to make that you can feel very comfortable. So our goal is to make sure our clients are very comfortable in their personal style and in their body shape Wonderful and you guys do custom-made suits, custom-made from scratch.

Speaker 2 1:24

Clothing bridal.

Speaker 1 1:26

Yes, we do all of that, for men too, and for children Wonderful.

Speaker 2 1:30

How did you get into this?

Speaker 1 1:32

Okay, it's an interesting story. Growing up, my mom was a seamstress. She was trained in London and she started her studio in Lagos, nigeria. Then she moved to Cross-Era State, nigeria, and then, as a child, while she's sewing, I'm right beside her picking up the pieces and making stuff for my baby doll. Yeah, so I think my fashion started right from that young age. And then, when I was in, when I was finishing from high school, she started her boutique and while I was in college, I used to go help out in the boutique and eventually, just before I got married, I took over the business and I started from scratch all over again and I changed the name from Sita Outfits to Teddy's World in Nigeria. Okay, so I've always been in. I've been in the fashion industry for about 16 years now.

Speaker 2 2:27

Wow.

Speaker 1 2:28

So while I was doing that, it was ready to wear. It wasn't custom made clothes that I was selling, so my dream was always to have my own labels. And even when I traveled to Dubai to get my dream dress, I didn't see exactly what I wanted. So after I bought the dress, I had to go for your wedding dress.

Speaker 1 2:48

Yeah, that was my wedding dress. So I go, I went back to my hotel, put on the rhinestones by myself, did like touch up and try to make it what I wanted. And I'm like, okay, there might be a lot of women out there that want something but they can't get it from the store. So my dream right from that time was to be able to create what women want, to feel good in. So, moving to the United States in 2016, I had my second son and I was like what do I do? It took some time out to pray because I'm a Christian and I had this need to go into fashion. I wasn't sure what kind of fashion. I was like, god, am I going to keep doing ready to wear? It was like no fashion, like make clothes. So I trusted God and he directed me and I started teaching myself how to sew. I learned from YouTube and three months after, I launched my Etsy store in 2017, generally to be precise, and that's how I grew from there to where I am today.

Speaker 2 3:45

So it started with Etsy, with Etsy yeah. And where are you guys now? You said you have a space.

Speaker 1 3:51

Right now we have a space in Montgomery Village where it's big enough to receive my clients. We have our workroom, we have our fabric room because we also sell fabrics too and we have our office right inside there.

Speaker 2 4:04

Do you guys make all the clothing on site?

Speaker 1 4:06

Yeah, we make all the clothes on site. So you come, you walk into my office, you pick a fabric, we take your measurements right there and we make your clothes for you. And if we don't have the kind of fabric you want, we have partners all over. We have partners in India and we have partners in China. So our partners in India are more of the custom-made fabrics. People do know that you can also customize your fabric too.

Speaker 1 4:29

Yes, I didn't know that. Yeah, as a bride, when you come to us, you can customize your lace fabric. As a bride, when you come to us, you can customize your lace fabric. You can tell me the exact stones you want on your fabric, the exact beads, the colors, and we customize it for you. Do you want the embroidery to be flowery? Any kind of shape you want, all can be customized. And before we approve the bidding session, we will send a drawing to you to look at it. Do you like the drawing of your embroidery, how it's going to look? When you approve it, we go ahead and send it back to India and they start the work.

Speaker 2 5:01

That's great. So people come in with like inspiration photos.

Speaker 1 5:04

Yes, yes, Whatever your color palette for your wedding or your anniversary celebration, we can do everything from scratch for you, and not just wedding dresses. You're also a do-tailor, not just wedding dresses Like what I'm wearing, what you're wearing is amazing. Yes, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 5:17

I saw you walk in and I was like show stocking. It's an amazing suit. We do bridals.

Speaker 1 5:23

We do everything, yeah, as far as it's custom made.

Speaker 2 5:26

What are you guys doing for advertising and marketing to get people in?

Speaker 1 5:30

Okay, so right now we have our presence on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, something like last year. We have a channel on YouTube and we also have a page on LinkedIn too, but I think our major, the major platform that we've really, really gotten extraordinary clients is on Thumbtack. So we've gotten a lot of clients from that app, from Thumbtack yeah, from Thumbtack. So it's been amazing. We're kind of everywhere.

Speaker 2 6:01

Yeah, tell me a little bit about the work that you're doing teaching children to sew.

Speaker 1 6:06

Yes. So in Teddy's Afrique we believe in empowering people, women and children. So we always have like for the children. We like to teach children from 10 years old, because from that age they are more coordinated, yes, and a little bit more careful, because, of course, machines, systems are very so they don't get a needle through their finger.

Fashion Design Business Growth and Challenges

Speaker 1 6:30

Yes, so we take children from 10 years old. I start to feel that your child, like your eight-year-old child, is a little bit more coordinated than we could take your child, but we love the parent to be around during the classes. Yeah, so we teach them from scratch how to sew, how to use a sewing machine, and it's always an exciting time for them, and this is for children with autism, correct?

Speaker 1 6:51

For normal children, and we also have a special program that we are going to start again this year for children with autism, because we believe that most of them have hidden passions, hidden talents that are yet to be discovered. Trust me, this book can do all sorts of things. I've worked with them before. We've done bidding session, we've done sewing session and this year Teddy's Africa is all ready to start working with them again. Personally, I've gotten my 40-hour training from Autism Foundation Partnership and I'm all set to work with them again. It's all about understanding their behavior, trying to use the right, prompting to teach them, to make them to come and do their work. Yes, and that sense of fulfillment when you're done with their project. It really, really excites them.

Speaker 1 7:36

I'm sure yes it does, yeah, and they get that sense of accomplishment. Yeah, and fulfillment too.

Speaker 2 7:41

Yeah, what challenges are you facing in your company right now, and how do you overcome them?

Speaker 1 7:47

The greatest challenge I'm facing right now is human resource. Yeah, trying to get the right talent to work with me. It's been a challenge for quite a long time now, and most times we hire those people and we train them and after a while they are gone.

Speaker 2 8:06

Yeah.

Speaker 1 8:12

So and for us to be able to get like real, highly qualified Fashion designers, it's a lot of money. So at the end of the day, we fall back to Capita to be able to hire those people that are very, very good in what they do. Because if you keep trying to Get people that just know how to sew, you're gonna spend more time teaching them Right and that's more of your time how to put your patterns together, how to do your finishing properly, and at the end of the day, they might just work out on you. So we want people that we want to hire, people that are very sure of what they want to do and want to work with us long term, and that will require some good money to be on ground.

Speaker 2 8:48

Yeah, investing in them and investing in the company.

Speaker 1 8:51

Yes, so that's like number one challenge, and for us to be able to achieve that, we need to have capital Right so a goal to get more capital. Yes, that's a goal.

Speaker 2 9:02

Yeah, what do you find most rewarding about what you do?

Speaker 1 9:07

Oh, the smile on my client's face when they walk into the room and the city had outfits ready to pick up and they put it on and they're like rosemary, thank you. Yeah, that gives me a sense of fulfillment. I feel that's what I was called to do. I'm doing it well. I'm putting smiles on a lot of women because one thing we also do with our clothing is that we do body enhancements, because one thing we also do with our clothing is that we do body enhancement.

Speaker 1 9:35

What is body enhancement? Body enhancement is for women that feel, okay, I don't have enough hips, my hips are not too good for a mermaid dress. You know, mermaid dress kind of flaunts your shape. So for women that don't have hips, they feel that, oh, I don't think I have that body to wear a mermaid dress and I'm like we got you. So we install a hip pad into your dress to make you look beautiful and more confident in yourself. So if you feel that, oh, I'm not that busty for maybe a sweetheart neckline, we enhance the bust area as well to make your clothes look more fitting on you Fitting on you.

Speaker 2 10:14

Yes, yeah, so it sounds like you have some magic tricks up your sleeves. We do sculpturing a lot.

Speaker 1 10:18

Yes.

Speaker 2 10:19

Some magic pixie dust to help them all look their best.

Speaker 1 10:22

And one thing that has really, really helped us is that we use a software to create our patterns to ensure perfect fit for all our clients. So for every client that walks into our door, the client has a portfolio, like a file, where we store all your patterns.

Speaker 2 10:38

Oh wonderful. Yes, what's the lead time on when someone comes in and they're wanting to get their wedding dress made and they have all these inspiration photos, how long does that process take? Okay?

Speaker 1 10:48

for a basic wedding gown. What I'm saying basic is that you don't need a lot of detailing, a lot of designs on it. A basic wedding gown will take us about six to eight weeks Okay, because we don't really have a lot to order. But for luxury wedding gowns that we need to order your fabric from India, we need to create 3D flowers or 3D stuff. So we're going to work on your dress. You should give us at least four to five months Because first of all, the fabric needs to be hand beaded from India, then mailed to us and then we pick up from there. We come in for your first, your mock-up fits, your second fit, your third fit and then the pick up. Yeah, so it's quite the process. Yes, for the luxury dresses we need about four to five months. Four to five months.

Speaker 2 11:32

Four to five months, yes. What would you say to somebody that's maybe graduating from design school, that's trying to get into the fashion industry? What advice would you have for them?

Speaker 1 11:42

The first thing I'm going to advise someone that is just finishing from a fashion school is to be confident, because the fashion world is. It requires you to believe in yourself, to be confident. I can do this thing, and you need to keep developing yourself. You need to keep learning, because fashion is evolving every day. What was trending a few months ago now trending today. So you need to be up to date, you need to believe in yourself and you need to keep improving yourself mentally as well, because to be able to be up to date, you need to believe in yourself and you need to keep improving yourself mentally as well, because to be able to be creative and do your work, your mental state is very, very important so.

Speaker 2 12:24

So is that something you always stay up with, too is all the latest trends and, yes, you have to like it's seasonal, what is trending, trending today, and it depends.

Speaker 1 12:33

It might be in the wedding side or, you know, the high school student trying to do prom. They all have. When they come to you to take the appointment section, you have with them the consulting section. They all have their style in mind, like this woman would spend some time to watch what's trending on social media, on TikTok, their work nights, the Oscar. They know what they want, so you have to be up to date when they tell you I want this social person where a celebrity should know what they're talking about yes, and the prom and homecoming fashions have changed so much over the years, even the Queen Cicera as well.

Speaker 1 13:09

Yes, the Queen Cicera gowns. The designs change at least every two years, every two years.

Speaker 2 13:16

Yes, and that's the holiday for 15-year-olds, correct?

Speaker 1 13:20

Yes, yes, queen Cicera.

Speaker 2 13:22

Yeah, yeah. Where do you see?

Speaker 1 13:27

the future of your company going. Oh, I just graduated from the Brookfield training that was offered to small business owners and in the next couple of years I'm not saying years, like in the next one year we hope to see ourselves in a new storefront. In the next couple of years we should have a second storefront. In the next couple of years we should have a second storefront, maybe somewhere in Virginia or Frederick, but by God's grace, we want to have a storefront outside Maryland?

Speaker 2 13:57

Yeah, so are you actively looking at the spaces?

Speaker 1 13:59

Right now? Yes, I am, I'm working towards that goal.

Speaker 2 14:03

Yeah, that's awesome. What other goals do you guys have in mind to grow your business?

Speaker 1 14:10

um, to increase our customer base is number one thing in mind, because when you increase your customer base, you your funds kind of increase as well. And right now I have contract staff that are on ground to work with, because from July we have a lot of orders coming in there's graduation parties, there are weddings so we have contract staff on ground to work. So the major goal right now is to increase our customer base and we are actually working towards that using all our social media platforms yes, and do you guys post a lot on social media?

Passion in Entrepreneurship

Speaker 2 14:43

Yes, a lot of our customers are very active.

Speaker 1 14:47

Every process is a content for us. Yeah.

Speaker 2 14:50

And is your mom still involved in the business at all? No, my mom passed. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Speaker 1 14:55

But when I went back home I got all the. She has over 100 designs, oh, wow, yes. So I came back to the US with all her designs and I'll start working on new designs gradually, and she left a lot of books for me.

Speaker 2 15:15

So, I'm covered Well, she left you with a wonderful gift and a wonderful legacy.

Speaker 1 15:20

Yes, and among all my siblings, I'm the only one that took after her yeah.

Speaker 2 15:25

Are any of your siblings involved in the business? No, just me.

Speaker 1 15:28

And all my siblings are back home in Nigeria.

Speaker 2 15:31

Oh nice, yes, yeah. Are there any last parting words you'd like to leave us with? Any advice, business, anything you'd like to leave our listeners with?

Speaker 1 15:41

I want to just throw this out there for business owners generally and those planning to go into business One thing you should have about yourself is passion for what you're doing. If you don't have passion for what you're doing, you might give up, because when everything fails, passion will keep you going. That is my advice.

Speaker 2 16:03

Well, you're clearly very passionate about it.

Speaker 1 16:05

Yes, I am. Wonderful Thank you for coming in today. Thank you for having me.