There is a version of Zephans & CO that could have been built entirely on Nigerian fabric. For a while, it nearly was, but as the brand scaled into one of the country’s most recognisable ready-to-wear labels, founder Nkiru Achukwu made a supply chain decision that reflects a tension many Nigerian designers quietly navigate and rarely discuss openly.

In a new episode of The Fashion Roundtable, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi’s long-form fashion interview series, Achukwu spoke with great detail about why Aba eventually gave way to China.

Aba, located in Abia State, has long been the heartbeat of Nigeria’s garment and textile manufacturing ecosystem. The city’s Ariaria International Market, one of the largest in West Africa, is estimated to generate over $3 billion in trade monthly, supplying fabrics and finished garments to designers and retailers across the country.

For Achukwu, it was a natural early resource. “My second batch of fabrics was from Aba. Aba was fantastic while it lasted; I still buy something from Aba if I can get quantity, but the reason why I started going to China is quantity and then exclusivity. The thing about Aba is you’re going to have other people using the same fabric to make your clothes; with China, you don’t experience that because people are coming from all over the world, and in China, you can also print fabric.”

Exclusivity is not a vanity metric in fashion; it is a brand equity decision. China remains the world’s largest textile exporter, accounting for over 40% of global fabric exports, and its manufacturing infrastructure offers what Aba structurally cannot yet guarantee at scale: minimum order quantities, custom printing, and proprietary designs. For a brand moving the volume Zephans & CO moves, that distinction matters enormously.

And the volumes are significant. “We sell over 35,000 pieces in one year. We’ve surpassed that,” Achukwu said. Every piece, notably, is made in Nigeria. The sourcing may cross borders, but the production stays home, a nuance worth holding onto in a conversation that could easily be flattened into a story about abandoning local industry.