Olamide Agunloye: Transforming Fashion Retail with BLK

With over two decades in the fashion industry, Olamide Agunloye, the renowned founder of Iconola, is now giving back to the fashion community through an innovative retail rental space and service known as BLK, writes Vanessa Obioha

The BLK building stands out on the busy Fola Osibo Road in Lekki, Lagos, with its distinctive yellow and black colours. Inside, an array of white-walled rooms houses various fashion items, from bags and shoes to clothes and fragrances. Like a maze, each turn reveals a new creative discovery, featuring iconic fashion and lifestyle brands.

“We house lifestyle brands that make the shopping experience a bit more holistic. So when people come in, they’re able to get almost everything they need in fashion,” said Olamide Agunloye, the brain behind the lifestyle brand, BLK.

Agunloye is a well-known figure in the fashion and interior design world. From a young age, she enjoyed sketching, encouraged by her father who provided her with drawing books, pencils, and paper. Despite being a Science student in secondary school and initially studying Petroleum Engineering at university, she discovered a passion for fashion through her numerous clothing sketches. A comment from her roommate, who often borrowed her textbooks, sparked the idea that she might have a future in fashion. This realization led her to call a family meeting, where she announced her decision to leave Petroleum Engineering to pursue a career in fashion. Despite her mother’s concerns, she assured her that determination and success would eventually win over any skeptics. 

With over two decades of experience, Agunloye made a name for herself with Iconola, Nigeria’s first recognized ready-to-wear brand. Her influence has since expanded, creating spaces and clothes for her numerous clients across the country. With BLK, she is doing something different. Think of it as a Selfridges store in Oxford, London which houses many lifestyle and fashion brands. She puts it this way: 

“BLK is retail rental space and services. It’s basically a customer renting space from us to stock their items, but we are also responsible for marketing and selling the products for you. We create social media content, reporting and remissions for the brands so that they can keep track of everything. We only charge a certain percentage on their sales,” she explained. “The layout is already taken care of by us which also saves you money. So you’re not coming in with any props or any furniture, everything in terms of that would already be provided for. We’re trying to just make it as seamless as possible for the designer.”

Agunloye was very intentional when designing the concept of BLK, ensuring it would not be mistaken for a department store.

“I understand the concept of department stores. I don’t necessarily like it just because the shopper goes to what they know. But for a place like BLK, it offers you variety. If you go to a lipstick section, for instance, you have a variety, and then you get introduced to brands that you haven’t been introduced to before, which gives a newbie designer or up-and-coming people who are just not breaking into a large market a chance to be in a bigger market. And I think it benefits the clients also because they get the best. They get to also choose what’s best for them rather than what others think is best for them.”

The idea for BLK, according to her, came in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I was praying with someone, and she told me she had a vision of me starting another business, but it was not Iconola. In my mind, I wondered what other business God would be showing her if not Iconola.”

Initially skeptical, Agunloye waited four months for proof that the prophecy was indeed not about Iconola.

“I travelled right at the end of COVID. And then the idea suddenly came to me. It was like a light bulb, and I remember sketching the building, trying to get a plot of land and saying to myself that everybody would be under one roof. I just couldn’t shake it,” she said.

Not everyone immediately embraced the idea, but this year, BLK officially opened its doors. So far, about 45 brands have been onboarded, with a goal of 150 brands, primarily local. For Agunloye, BLK is a solution to the rental struggles and other running costs faced by fashion businesses.

“I dabbled into real estate for a while where I remodel and manage spaces. I was managing a building where I had tenants. That was during COVID. I realised that without the rental income I got from my tenants, how would I have survived as a designer? If you can imagine how much money the fashion industry has paid as rent over the past 10 years, that’s money that could have transformed the fashion industry.”

BLK alleviates this burden, freeing designers to focus on creativity.

“It is my way of giving back to the fashion community. It saves them from the stress of rent and allows them to be more creative. I’m not able to be creative when I’m thinking of rent.”

Agunloye also embraces collaboration over competition, a lesson learned during the pandemic.

“I always wanted to be the best creative as a younger person, but the pandemic taught me that there is no ‘top’ or ‘best.’ Rather than competing, it’s better to collaborate.”

Recalling her experiences, Agunloye shared how she used to refuse requests from people who wanted to use her models, space, and other services.

“I was protective because I thought it was all mine. But with BLK, I realized it’s better to do these things for others.”

Agunloye is known for her distinctive building designs, including the first black building in Lekki.

“There are about four or five black buildings in Lekki today, so when I was designing BLK, I didn’t want to have another black building which was why I settled for yellow. I’m hoping we will have an official pink or purple BLK  building in the future,” she concluded.