Aghogho Ogunlesi is the founder and creative director of LeyeLesi, an innovative brand that focuses on sustainability and ethical luxury. Aghogho is Nigerian-American and currently lives in Edinburgh. LeyeLesi’s handbags are created in Lagos, Nigeria, and her jewellery is made in Kumasi, Ghana and Dakar, Senegal.
When discussing her inspiration behind LeyeLesi, Aghogho talks about her desire to showcase her creativity through her luxury brands. For Aghogho, it is so important to “enhance the portrayal of African cultures, traditions and fashion globally and to give back to black and African Artisans/communities”.
Showcase African luxury
The idea behind Aghogho’s brand was the desire to showcase the culture and traditions of African people, saying: “The media often times paints negative pictures of Black people and African countries are not exempt, thus our beautiful cultures and traditions are oftentimes overshadowed by negative depictions of our people.
“I want to show that African Luxury exist. We create handbags and footwear on the same level if not better than our global counterparts.”
She says at the beginning of her journey with LeyeLesi, people would be “shocked” at the quality and detail of her bags, she says “I wanted to stop that shock and normalise globally that African Luxury is top notch”.
For Aghogho, heritage is so important and all her pieces are “handcrafted using traditions passed down from generations”.
The need for sustainable fashion in an unsustainable world
Sustainability and ethical fashion is of utmost importance to Aghogho: “Besides creating a luxury brand, I wanted to create a brand that used sustainable materials and textile while also paying our artisans liveable wages. Our bags are handcrafted using leathers sourced from African markets. We also use a fabric called Adire in our brand, this was a conscious decision as I wanted to only use fabrics that are made in Africa. Adire is an Indigo resist dyed cotton cloth that is made by the Yoruba people of south-west Nigeria.”
This emphasis on sustainable fashion could not come at a more important time. There is now a pressing need for fashion that is ethical and is considerate to the environment. 2020 is set to be the one of the warmest years on records and with a yearly increase in devastating wildfires and the world left vulnerable to flash flooding, climate change is becoming increasingly dangerous to mankind.
Climate change has caused droughts that have affected 45 million people across 14 countries in Africa, and flash floods in Jakarta, Indonesia that took the life of 66 people in January. With COP26 delayed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and environmental sustainability needs to be at the forefront of global discussions.
This is something Aghogho strives for in her business: “We only have one planet! There is no planet B. Thus, sustainable brands should be at the forefront, to ensure fast fashion is not the norm and we are making mindful decisions about what we create, how we create and why we create.
We live in a capitalist world where money tends to drive the human moral compass which sometimes, overrides the need to preserve this God given planet. Instead, of fast fashion and creating to make money only. When we should create with the earth and the humans making these pieces in mind.”
Protests across the fashion world over working conditions
For Aghogho the use of cheap labour across the fashion industry is deeply troubling. ‘Fast fashion’ and exploitative labour is something that has recently been in the spotlight. A few months ago, news broke out that major fashion brands had cancelled ordered worth billions, that risked the livelihoods of their workers across Asia. In April, thousands of workers in Bangladesh went on an 8 day strike to protest unsafe working conditions under H&M.
In the UK, an ASOS warehouse in Barnsley was called a ‘cradle of disease’ as thousands of their workers had to crowd together in unsafe working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.
“How many times do we hear negative stories about major fashion companies using cheap labour? Instead of seeing authentic sustainable brands at the forefront in fashion we see high street chain stores and fashion houses creating sustainable capsule collections.”
“Brands and companies are trying to decrease their carbon footprint and change business practices to reduce waste right?”
“While all this is great, we really need sustainable brands to push and be at the forefront before it’s too late. We understand the need to not over produce, to not use materials that are not needed and to treat our employees fairly.”
For Aghogho, there is a need to “slow down the amount of production we churn out yearly in fashion, and seek to implement measures that are more environmentally friendly, while treating the people who create our pieces humanely”.
Working as a fashion brand in Scotland
Aghogho is honest about life, and work in Edinburgh as a Black business owner: “To be honest I think being a luxury brand based in Edinburgh isn’t always great. We have maybe one other luxury handbag brand here: Strathberry.”
“I have not seen any benefit of being a Black brand or sustainable brand in Edinburgh until recently, with the Support Black Businesses movement that is going on globally.”
For Aghogho’s brands, the majority of her customers are from America, something that she would like to see change as she is keen to grow her stock and client basis across Scotland and the UK. Aghogho would love to see her brand grow globally in the next five years.
Aghogho is ambitious and hardworking, not only does she run LeyeLesi, she works full time in the Pharmaceutical industry, with a master’s in pharmacy. For Aghogho, a typical day is working on LeyeLesi in the morning, working all day as a pharmacist, and then working on her business in the evenings and the weekends.
She laughs when she says: “I literally have 3 full times jobs, working in the Pharmaceutical Industry, building LeyeLesi and being a wife! When kids come a personal assistant may definitely be needed!”
The importance of giving back
LeyeLesi’s motto is “Leave this Earth a better place than you met it,” and the brand is committed to treating their artisans fairly and providing a wage that they can support their families with.
This is of huge importance to Aghogho: “I grew up in a family where helping others and giving back was the standard.
Most immigrant families are always helping family’s members and friends when needed as we say, ‘back home.’
As a Christian, I also aim to live a purpose driven life in which I can touch the lives of people that may not been blessed with the same opportunities as me, yet are equally as smart and talented as I am.”
Fashion through Truth and Service
For Aghogho, her legacy of giving back also comes from her undergraduate education. She attended Howard University in Washington DC. Howard is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and the school’s motto is Veritas et Utilitas- Truth and Service. She says: “We are taught to give back, to serve and to uplift. For the most part most Howard graduates have this mentality.”
These colleges were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and for Aghogho it is important to examine the legacy of the colleges: “After slavery and segregation ended legally many of these top schools still exist in the African America community and have produced so many legendary black people: Martin Luther King, Spike Lee, Samuel L Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Chadwick Boseman, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison just to name a few.
“You do not have to look very far to see graduates of HBCU’s doing well and also giving back. Hundreds of years later their legacy has been to continue to uplift and support the Black community.”
When thinking about what her legacy would be, Aghogho decided that she wanted to live the school’s motto, Truth and Service, through fashion.
Aghogho wants to stress that everyone deserves to live a life with dignity, saying: “If I can provide that for families working for LeyeLesi, I believe I have indeed made a difference.”
“Wearing dope clothing makes people feel good right? So why not make yourself feel even better knowing the garment you are wearing wasn’t created using cheap labour!”
“You can give back and look good while doing it, LeyeLesi and so many other sustainable brands are proof of this. This should be the fashion way period! I pray one day this is the norm in the fashion industry.”
Words by Caitlin McDonald
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