Ethel Flair

About 8% of women in Nigeria suffer from back pains and social insecurities caused by excess body fat and scoliosis. 

These are women within ages 18 and 45 with excess body fat and scoliosis across Nigerian. According to Trading economics and East African orthopaedic journal, my estimated population of 8,233,500  women summed up to a revenue of  $247,005,000.

Currently, this audience make use of body braces and waist trainers valued at ₦10,000 ($170) which are rather painful and very uncomfortable.
Being the first startup to provide a solution to this problem, we have designed frameworks inserted into this apparels during production to reduce back pains, improve body posture and conceal these body problems.

Solution:

Currently, these women make use of body braces and waist trainers which are rather painful and very uncomfortable.
With specific fabrics like spandex, we have been able to provide a better solution for these women.
Our apparels reduce back pains, improve body posture and conceal excess body fat and scoliosis.

About 8 million women in Nigeria suffer from back pains caused by scoliosis and excess body fat. In order to solve this problem, I have designed innovative apparels to relieve back pains, conceal scoliosis and excess body fat and erect their body postures.

As a victim of scoliosis, I have been faced with intense back pains, rejection and little productivity at work. 

In a bid to solve this problem, I came up with "Ethel Flair" whose apparels conceal scoliosis and excess body fat, erect body posture and reduce body pains, thereby improving visibility (confidence and social acceptance), improving daily productivity and growth.

The business is grouped in three phases which are: Training, Production and Styling. In the phase physically disabled and financially handicapped individuals are trained at no cost to improve their lively hood. Also, fabrics a purchased from local markets in large quantities inorder to make our apparels very affordable to the community.

I am applying to this challenge in order to create room for improvement, increase my network and most importantly to raise funds for budgeted expenses and ongoing projects.

These expenses include: rent, machineries, running costs, salaries, advertisements, basic equipments and materials.

According to my research, Ethel Flair is the fist solution that has ever emerged to solve this problem through the fashion industry.

Women with the above stated problem (excess body fat and scoliosis) currently make use of body braces and waist trainers which are rather too painful, uncomfortable and cannot be worn to work or events for a long period of time.

Being a victim of scoliosis and experimenting designs with my body for over 3 years, I came up with Ethel Flair which produces comfortable apparels that conceal these body problems, reduce back pains, improve body posture and can be worn to work or events for as long as possible.

*To improve the confidence, productivity and visibility of 8 million women. Through effective advertisements, marketing channels and partnerships, we believe selling these apparels to over 8 million Nigerian women is achievable over the next 5 years.

*To become the most influential fashion house in the Nigerian fashion industry. This will be done through networking, partnerships, constant exhibitions in fashion shows.

*To improve the well-being of one million physically disabled and financially handicapped individuals within the next 5 years. This will be achieved through the training phase of the business where 200 physically disabled and financially handicapped individuals will be trained yearly for five years at no cost in order to improve their lively hood.

Our customers are rapidly increasing with an average monthly increase of 15%.

We are presently in active partnership with 2 online stores (Jumia and Konga) and 3 physical stores. We strive to partner with more online and physical stores to improve our reach to 8 million women in Africa.

All expenses needed for the training phase have been budgeted and we will begin commencement as soon as the funds are available.

According to research, Ethel Flair is the first solution that has ever emerged to solve this problem through the fashion industry.
Women with the above stated problem (excess body fat and scoliosis) currently make use of body braces and waist trainers which are rather too painful, uncomfortable and cannot be worn to work or events for a long period of time.

Being a victim of scoliosis and experimenting designs with my body for over 3 years, I came up with Ethel Flair which produces comfortable apparels that conceal these body problems, reduce back pains, improve body posture and can be worn to work or events for as long as possible.

We currently have a customer base of about 1000 women with and without scoliosis and excess body. These women have become more comfortable, confident  in social gatherings and productive. We aim to serve over 8 million women in Africa with these apparels.

We make use of illustration applications to construct designs. Also, carefully designed frameworks that reduce back pains and erect body postures are inserted into the apparels. We also make used of materials from Google  like Google ads and cloud to increase our media visibility. We make use of social media platforms and e-commerce platforms.

I believe in equality and that is the reason I am working on this project to make women with scoliosis feel equal and to promote equal wellbeing.

I have three female staff and male staff in order to promote equality in the work environment.

Business model:

Ethel flair has three phases;

Training: physically disabled and financially handicapped individuals will be trained at no cost to improve employment.

Production: The trainees assist Ethel Flair producers for improved skill acquisition and production efficiency respectively.

Styling: Interested clients are styled with apparels, makeup, shoes and bags through collaborations and partnerships.

Fabrics are locally sourced in bulk, produced in retail quantities and sold across Nigeria in both physical outlets and online stores in order to minimize cost.

Each apparel has an average cost of $10 (5,000 Naira) and an average price of $30 (15,000 Naira).

We make use of the B2B and B2B2C model. We currently have a customer base of about 1000 women and we consistently participate in activities like social media advertising, fashion exhibitions, content creation, collaborations and lots more to pull traffic to our online stores, social media sites and physical locations.

Our revenue generation streams include donations for the training phase of the business which is a non-profit scheme, sales of apparels and grant prizes.

The business has been self- funded since inception and has successfully surpassed its break-even point. 

Through partnerships, networking and collaborations, we have been able to grow to a pilot stage. We have an increasing customer base with an average monthly increase of 15%. We have gained customer loyalty due to organization, good quality control and efficiency in terms of fast delivery. We have participated in fashion exhibitions like the galaxy television and face of Zikel fashion shows. Also, we have partnered with online stores and physical stores for the sales of our products. We aim to improve the confidence, visibility and productivity of over 8 million women through fashion with a revenue of about 250 million dollars by 2030, to improve the influence of the Nigerian fashion industry (fashion trends and textile designs) globally. And to become the most influential fashion house in Nigeria by 2025.