The Fashion Industry Cameroon is experiencing growth with designers leveraging their cultures to showcase their talents.
Nde Donald, an ICT Engineer, is one of those young talented cameroonians who created his own brand called « Alakuma Pikin ». He explains through this interview.
Adjimi : Hello Mr. Nde Donald ! You are the brand creator of the mark “Alakuma Pikin”, can you please tell us what is it all about and why the name Alakuma Pikin ?
Nde Donald : Alakuma Pikin is a concept born in 2002, it is one of the 73 quarters of the Mankon Fondum which is the largest area in Bamenda. So Alakuma Pikin is a good way for me to showcase with my community, to create awareness and expose the Mankon culture « for people to know who we are, where we come from. It is a culture lifestyle through fashion and design »
Adjimi : Stylism, modeling and clothing design ; How do you connect all that in your work ?
Nde Donald : Having to take our own traditional accessories, fuse them with modern day fashion like t-shirts, hoddies, for me is stylism. Establishing it in our own community and getting people accross the globe to embrace and consume it.
Adjimi : How would you describe your style ? And who is supposed to wear your clothes ?
Nde Donald : My style represents communication because each product is named using a code. For example, we have the AP 237, 237 being the standard communication code in Cameroon. We have the Beijing t-shirt, New-York t-shirt and so on. All, representations of cultures, societies through fashion. So, everybody can wear or use our products just like the AP Lamp or the AP Calabash. Everybody is concerned not just those coming from Alakuma.
Adjimi : Is it fair to say you make a good living working as clothing designer ?
Nde Donald : Being an ICT Engineer, it will be unfair to say that I make a living out of clothes designing but yes you could make a living out of clothes designing because one of the key things about Alakuma Pikin brand is to sell the idea to our community and the world as large.
Adjimi : Artist like you remain unknown from the large public, can you give us names of some of your colleagues whose work forces you respect ?
Nde Donald : There are fashion houses with whom we collaborate who are doing a great job as fashion design is concerned. We have Hosanna Fashion House in Yaounde, that is co-owned and managed by an Alakuma Pikin, there is DoShit, BroWeDoHow, RK collection, CB Print who does a massive job and brings good collaboration with us.
Adjimi : What is your assessment of the state of this industry in Cameroon? What can be done to make it more vibrant and valuable ?
Nde Donald : The industry is growing in Cameroon. It is my personal belief that if every brand puts in efforts to push the industry overseas, this will open doors to other brands in the future as well as opening doors to new markets.
Adjimi : Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.
Thank you for using this platform to showcase our brand, community and culture.
We appreciate YOU.