Manufacturer Raises Alarm Over Proliferation of Fake X-Pression Products in Nigerian Market

Manufacturer Raises Alarm Over Proliferation of Fake X-Pression Products in Nigerian Market

Mary Nnah

Solpia Nigeria Limited, manufacturer of the X-Pression brand of hair attachments and weave-on, has expressed concern over the increasingly proliferation of fake X-Pression hair products in the Nigeria market.

They lamented that the activities of these illegitimate operators who produce the fake products have not only affected the company negatively in terms of loss of revenue but have also eroded the brand’s image, resulting in consumers’ loss of confidence in genuine X-Pression products.

Speaking at its corporate headquarters in Agege, Lagos, during a press conference to intimate the public on the existence of fake X-Pression products in the market, Sales Manager, Solpia Nigeria, Mr. Shola Oduwole, said the presence of the fake operators has caused adverse effects on the company.

He said, “The issue of fake has proved little more difficult to handle due to the fact that they are not legitimate businesses entities with proper registered addresses; they operate in secrecy, sometimes under the cover of the night and they are of various kinds and sources and operate independent of one another.”

Oduwole who said his company is more concerned about the adverse effect of fake products on consumers, lamented that the activities of fake operators have caused his company loss of funds as a result of the purchase of the fake X-pression products by unsuspicious consumers, thereby causing customers’ dissatisfaction.

He added that most importantly was the health hazards some of these fake X-Pression braids pose to the users.

Collaborating, the Assistant Marketing Manager, Ihedioha Okechukwu, said the presence of fake X-Pression hair products in the market portends grave danger to the company and its teaming consumers across the globe who have put their confidence in the genuine X-Pression brand.

“The X-Pression brand is the number one in synthetic hair extension, not just in Nigeria but across the globe where our braids such X-Pression Ultra Braid, X-Pression Rich Braid and X-Pression Super Braid have remained dominant in the market.

“This dominance has however become somewhat a blessing and also a source of concern for us. Indeed, the global market popularity of X-Pression brand has birthed a new challenge for our company; it has made our X-Pression products very attractive to fakers both from within Nigeria and abroad, especially in China”, Okechukwu added.

While educating the public on how not to fall victim to fake X-Pression, the Marketing Manager, Mrs. Grace Ejikeme said most of these fake products can easily be identified by observing certain abnormalities on the packaging.

Ejikeme stressed that some unscrupulous and greedy businessmen were responsible for importing fake and substandard X-Pression products into the country and distributing them across markets in the country.

She further stated that while Solpia Nigeria works in conjunction with relevant government agencies in Nigeria and China, the country where the fake products are originating, to get the source of these fakes and bring the perpetrators to book, it was intrinsic that they warn the general public about the existence of the fakes and the dangers they portend to the users.

The company’s Secretary / Lawyer, Prince Azubuike Onyekwelu revealed further that the fake operators’ activities has also affected employment in the company as thousands of workers have been sacked in recent times due to low sales and low productivity while the fakers have taken over the market with heap fake substandard products.

He said further that this has resulted in low sales of the genuine X-Pression products, forcing the company to reduce its production capacity thus causing workers dismissal.

Onyekwelu expressed worries that, Solpia Nigeria, which has two factories in Lagos and a very large workforce might still layoff more workers if something urgent is not done about the present situation by relevant authorities in Nigeria.

While advising all users of all X-Pression products to beware of the fakes, he noted that the fake X-Pression braids are made with low quality Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) fibre and other substandard materials, which are harmful to the scalp due to the existence of chemical residue on the fibre.

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