Smully Wear, a Ghanaian fashion brand located in Accra, has emerged as the first Ghanaian fashion brand to participate in the just ended Omaha Fashion Week hosted in Nebreska in United State of America (USA).
The latest spring collection, dubbed ‘Good Vibes’, included wide varieties of clothes, such as suits, urban wear, red carpet outfits, caftans, 3-piece agbada, political suits, African prints shirts, unisex print pants, formal wears, casual wears, shorts, office dresses, and wedding outfits.
Speaking to the B&FT, Joseph Aggrey Cobinnah, the brain behind Smully Wear, expressed his excitement for his achievement saying: “It is a big privilege to be on a such a platform in the USA; and Smully Wear being the first Ghanaian fashion brand and designer to participate in such an event that has been running for 15 years is such an honour. We were able to tell the world our fashion story, and the feedback and compliments after the event were amazing,” he added.
Mr. Cobinnah also indicated that the brand’s participation in the Omaha Fashion Week is a great deal for both Smully Wear, the country, and fashion in Ghana. “History has been made, hence, paving way for other Ghanaian fashion brand to get same opportunity to be on such an impactful platform and to expose more made-in-Ghana products to the world.”
Explaining how Smully Wear was selected, he said that designer application was opened to interested participant on Omaha website in the month of October last year, which he filed his application. Smully Wear was shortlisted for an interview and presentation of collection concepts and inspiration behind it.
Revealing what is next, Mr. Cobinnah said Smully Wear is going to embark on an ‘aspire to inspire project’ – a project that has been on break due to COVID-19 – with some Senior High Schools, such as Aggrey memorial, Ghana National College and Mfantsipim, for a workshop training.
However, he attributed some struggles in the fashion industry to lack of funds and high import duties on fabrics.
About Smully Wear
Smully Wear is a Ghanaian fashion brand founded in the 2014. Smully’s consistent creativity has earned him the opportunity to style icons like American rapper and singer, Jidenna, Boris Kodjoe – German actor and former model, Ghanaian veteran musician – Samini, Stonebwoy, among others. In 2017, Smully Wear won Fashion Designer of the Year at the Ghana Tertiary Award for his maiden collection ‘Jack where are you’.
About Omaha Fashion Week
Omaha Fashion Week is the fourth largest organised fashion week event in Nebreska. The fashion week started in 2008 and is the first to make show participation completely free of charge for designers. Omaha Fashion Week is a socially conscious organisation with a strong mission and purpose to serve as an incubator for fashion industry talent and provide opportunities for the Omaha community to enjoy a unique red-carpet experience.