Our Journey

eliEls began in 2017 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I was studying electronic engineering. To support myself, I sold thrifted clothing to students on campus. The work was practical and necessity-driven, rooted in demand rather than expression.

Over time, to differentiate myself from other students selling clothes, I began painting on garments. Initially denim, then white shirts eventually.

As I worked, it became clear that I wasn't merely altering clothes. I was translating ideas into form, using fabric as a medium for thought. The process demanded structure, iteration, and problem-solving, echoing the systems thinking I was learning through engineering.

That realization marked a shift. I stepped away from commissions and began working independently, testing materials, processes, and concepts through clothing. What started as survival became a practice. That practice formed a system. And that system set eliEls in motion.

In Nigeria, fashion is often dismissed as decoration. Frivolous. unserious. A fallback for those who fail to enter "real" professions like engineering, medicine, or law. Parents discourage it. Society trivializes it.

This perception is economically and culturally damaging. It devalues skilled labor, blocks young talent, and limits Nigeria's global fashion potential.

eliEls responds with proof, exposing the rigor, process, and intellectual labor behind each garment.

What distinguishes eliEls is not only what we make, but how we think about making. Design begins with an engineer's mindset. Analytical, systematic, and rigorous. Then is executed through art and craftsmanship. This approach mirrors the mind itself: analysis(left) on one end, creativity(right)on the other.

Every collection starts with a concept. A question about society, culture, or human experience. Then moves through testing, iteration, and material experimentation until that thought or idea takes form.

For Post Adrenaline Blues, an exploration of linguistic constraint, belts were developed from ube seeds. A local pear found in Nsukka, where each hard, indigestible seed represents words that bind and restrict.

At eliEls, we don’t source materials, we develop them. Textiles are hand-painted in our studio, each requiring hours of deliberate work. Buttons and bags are hand-carved from discarded coconut shells by our collaborator and partner JK Meoli.

All the pieces are shaped, sanded, drilled, and refined individually. We build with what Nsukka provides, transforming local waste into enduring luxury through handcraft. Slowing production, preserving skill, and holding our work to global standards.

Beyond fashion, eliEls is an ongoing argument that fashion demands intellectual rigor and skilled craftsmanship. Hand-painted textiles, hand-carved buttons, deliberately constructed garment stands as proof, challenging the perception of fashion in Nigeria as frivolous decoration to a respected discipline.

We show that serious craft can emerge from anywhere, including places rarely associated with fashion– like Nsukka. By making labor visible, elevating local materials, and refusing shortcuts, eliEls demonstrates that this approach is essential to shaping minds and dressing bodies.

Almost a decade in, eliEls is just beginning.

With the right support, we are building a making academy in Nsukka. Training artisans in our techniques, creating sustainable employment, and proving that craft-intensive production can scale with integrity.

We are expanding material research, exploring new ways to transform local resources into wearable innovation, and produce collections that continue to ask hard questions and answer them through making.