By Chinedu Eze
Aviation industry consultant and manufacturer clothiers and shoes for uniformed personnel in the aviation industry and other sectors, Daniel Young Global Investment Limited, has lamented that Nigerian airlines prepare their uniforms and other clothiers overseas at huge cost of foreign exchange while there are local companies that could effectively provide such service.
The company said that this has contributed in the high dollar demand in the aviation industry coupled with the facts that the airlines and the agencies in the sector are not looking inwards to see what they can produce locally instead of importing every of their need from overseas.
The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Daniel Young said that by improving local content in the aviation sector, Nigeria could safe over $100 million dollars of forex.
Young said his company is local manufacturing company for international and local markets, which prepare uniforms and footwear for cabin crew, aviation security, other agencies in the aviation sector, schools and corporate organisations.
The entrepreneur who has production facilities in Lagos, Owerri and Aba said his major driving force is to locally produce standard shoes, cloths and bags that can be accepted globally.
Young reiterated that having looked at some of the brands Nigeria enjoys today in terms of clothing, his company decided to match its standards and production quality with the global brands, adding that they decided to zero in on uniforms because uniforms creates a team spirit.
“If you look at the airline industry, you see the cabin crew, people in the counter space and pilots are all in uniforms and you wouldn’t want to deal with anyone who is not dressed properly. It gives a sense of corporate identity. We decided to look at uniforms and all it entails starting from day care, nursery for schools, and industry based uniforms for hospitality industry, for military, for hospital amongst others.
“If you look at our show rooms today, you will discover that we have been able to do our best to produce products that match global standards. We decided to reinvent the school shoes that we used to have in the 1970s and 1980s. What we have done is to take existing ones, study them and amplify the qualities we found that were good and remove aspects that are no longer useful.
“If you look at the 1970s design, you will see that they have a lot of perforations on the leather surface. So, we reduced it and we used fabrics inside the shoes so the child does not sweat. We also reduced the weight of the heels for ease of movement. Children do not walk, they run, so anything that impedes their movement will not encourage learning. We have looked at those things and decided to bring a brand new product that will meet today’s taste,†he disclosed.
