Nigerian Fashion Designer, Zainabu Wows With New Luxury Bags

Northern Nigeria has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The Boko Haram sect insurgency has put the region on global limelight with its constant attack on innocent Nigerians for simply going to school or being Christians.
Before the region was known of these kinds of terrorism acts, the nomadic tribes that live in Northern Nigerian were know for their long horned herds of cattle that produced some of the finest leather in the world.

This is what a local fashion designer Zainabu Ashadu,32, sort to remind the world through her luxury handbag collections.
The Nigerian designer is the brains behind the Zashadu brand, whose modern, colorful creations use the ancient art of tanning and leather-dyeing from the country’s north.
“I think people like the story behind the bags. They like the fact that the bag has roots and origins,” Ashadu told AFP at her workshop in Lagos.

“I work with small families of tanners, the animals are traceable, we use vegetable dyes and other environmentally friendly dyes, and also the dyers work all together to save energy.”
Ashadu, whose parents are originally from the north but raised her in London before she relocate to Lagos, turns cow leather from the north’s city of Kano, goatskin from the ancient northwestern city of Sokoto as well as python skin from snake farms in the region, into beautiful clutch purses and handbags that sell overseas for between $180-$980, AFP said.
This is not new, as foreign design companies usually come to buy the same leather from Kano and send it abroad for processing. Ashadu however uses local artisans to tan and dye the leather and this she says is not easy.