INTERVIEW #48 SHAKARA
“Having a sustainable closet is about not wasting money. We live in a pandemic so we should always think about what we can do to help before we consume.”
What’s your relationship with clothes?
I can give you a story, when I was growing up home in Nigeria, I saw my bothers, Dad and my uncles always dressing in nice clothes. One of my uncles wife was a tailor, so I saw how she made the clothes my family and others were wearing. The clothes had lot of colours. That was my childhood. My brothers they always made outfits look good. My older brother took me with him to an open market where they sold clothes and I could see how he matched everything, even though it was second hand, he made me look good. I was 8 years old and my friends asked me where I got those clothes, because they were styled so nicely.
That’s my relationship! Also the football jersey I’m wearing now is from the 90s and I was so happy when I got it! Now I’m investing in things I couldn’t then.
How would you describe your style?
My style is mostly streetwear. I can buy any kind of shirt and add some things to it and make it look like streetwear. I like red a lot and everything between brown and yellow. I like shoes a lot! It’s one of my favourite things. If I start talk about sneakers now, I will get emotional. My friend always says it’s the foundation of an outfit, to wear a nice pair of shoes. That’s where you get the whole vibration from. If you don’t have the right shoes, you are ruining the outfit.
“My friend always say is the foundation of an outfit are the shoes, if you wear a nice pair of shoes, that’s where you get the whole vibration from. If you don’t have the right shoes, you are ruining the outfit.”
How would you describe your closet?
It’s not that big, but I have a lot of clothes in there. It’s not messy, I keep it in order according to colours, so can easily find what I’m looking for. My shoe closet is still small and I’m ordering it according to colours.
What is a sustainable closet for you?
It’s a closet that you can reuse for yourself! Two-three times per year me and my brother go through our closets and we sort things out we don’t use and we give it to family members, people from my hometown and so on. A sustainable closet is about having clothes that we regularly use.
What do you think about the fashion industry?
I think it’s going fast, too fast! So much going on right now and people don’t really care about the story behind the production and so on. But the good thing is the creative part, that people can create beautiful things. People should be more aware of what they wearing.
Nigeria is a very big country, the fashion and music industry is very big there. People consume a lot of clothes! In Nigeria there’s a lot of tailors everywhere. I would say people consumer more clothes there compared to Sweden in general. On Sunday it looks like everyone is going for a big celebration, people go out to make a statement.
In general Swedes seems to buy less clothes but in Nigeria people make their own clothes too. In Nigeria people are less aware about the climate impact of clothes, I would say.
“A sustainable closet is about having clothes that we regularly use.”
What do you believe needs to change?
Like I said earlier, it’s going fast so the everything needs to be more slow! Being more conscious of what we wearing and why!
What can one do that seeks to create a more sustainable closet?
· Having a sustainable closet is about not wasting money. We live in a pandemic so we should always think about what we can do to help before we consume. Something we see as little money could be a lot for someone else.
· Go through your closet, what you wear and so on, donate the things you don’t need. Hand it in in a good conditions. Don’t throw it away, that’s also bad for the environment. Honestly, you can donate clothes to me, I know people who actually need clothes! I know people from my hometown that can’t afford shoes.
So be mindful about your own clothes, the impact and what you can do to help others!