Fashion industry professionals and legal practitioners have urged Nigerian designers to prioritise intellectual property protection, formal business structures and strategic use of technology, warning that creative talent alone may not be enough to build globally competitive fashion brands.
The call was made during the third plenary session of the 7th Legal Business Conference, held on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The session, themed “Protecting Creativity and Scaling Nigerian Fashion Brands: Legal and Commercial Strategies for Global Competitiveness,” brought together professionals from fashion design, technology and legal practice to examine the challenges limiting the growth of Nigerian fashion businesses and the steps needed to turn creative ventures into sustainable enterprises.
Moderated by Prince Nwafuru, the discussion focused on business registration, intellectual property, manufacturing, contracts, digital commerce, artificial intelligence and the protection of creative assets.
Fashion professional and garment manufacturing expert Moses Agosu argued that scaling a fashion business should not be measured solely by the number of orders it receives, but by its ability to fulfil those orders consistently and profitably without compromising customer experience.
Agosu identified competence, character and capacity as three essential qualities for a fashion entrepreneur seeking to build a sustainable brand.
He explained that competence concerns the designer’s skills and knowledge, character reflects integrity, while capacity determines how much the business can produce and deliver.
He also urged designers to pay close attention to production costs, profitability and market demand before expanding their operations.
According to him, a product should offer more than visual appeal. Fashion entrepreneurs must combine originality with functionality and consumer needs to create products that people are willing to purchase repeatedly.
Agosu further warned that businesses must understand their production limitations before accepting large orders, as the inability to deliver on time or maintain quality could damage their reputation.
On protecting designs during manufacturing, he recommended written agreements that clearly establish ownership of designs, production limits and the permitted use of patterns supplied to manufacturers.
He also suggested dividing production tasks among workers so that no single employee necessarily has access to every stage of a design’s development. Such arrangements, he explained, could help reduce the risk of designs being copied or reproduced outside the business.
Seun Akinloye, a product designer, entrepreneur and technology builder, said Nigerian fashion brands do not necessarily need to spend heavily on technology to expand their reach.
He encouraged entrepreneurs to make strategic use of existing digital tools rather than attempting to build every system from scratch.
While platforms such as Instagram and TikTok can help brands increase visibility and reach potential customers, he noted that social media presence alone does not provide every tool required to run and scale a business.
He advised fashion businesses to leverage existing payment and logistics infrastructure where appropriate, allowing them to concentrate resources on their products, customers and commercial operations.
Akinloye also emphasised the importance of customer data, arguing that brands need to understand purchasing patterns, customer preferences and repeat orders to make better business decisions.
He explained that technology, including artificial intelligence, is creating new ways for customers to discover products and connect with brands. Fashion businesses that organise their operations and product information effectively may be better positioned to benefit from these emerging channels.
However, he cautioned that technology also makes it easier for others to reproduce designs and misuse creative identities. He therefore called for stronger protection of creative work and more reliable digital infrastructure for African fashion businesses.
He added that customer trust, loyalty and personal relationships remain important competitive advantages, even as artificial intelligence reshapes how products are discovered and sold.
Legal practitioner, entrepreneur and founder of Tessa Attorneys, Theresa Osime Onyido, urged fashion entrepreneurs to formalise their businesses from the beginning rather than waiting until they become large enterprises.
Speaking from her experience as a fashion designer, she recounted how she used a business name for years before discovering that the name had already been registered by someone else when she eventually attempted to formalise it.
The experience, she explained, demonstrated the risks of neglecting business registration and other foundational legal requirements while concentrating solely on creating and selling products.
Onyido stressed that a fashion business begins when a person starts providing a service or exchanging goods for payment, regardless of its size.
She advised designers to document their business relationships, protect their brand identity and establish clear arrangements with employees, collaborators and investors.
She also highlighted the importance of founders’ agreements where one party contributes creativity or expertise while another provides funding. Such agreements, she said, should clarify the rights and responsibilities of each party and help prevent future disagreements.
Onyido further warned that business registration does not automatically protect every creative work produced under a brand. Designers must understand the separate intellectual property protections that may apply to their designs, names, logos and other assets.
She urged fashion entrepreneurs to ensure that agreements with photographers, models, manufacturers and other collaborators specify ownership of creative work and how it may be used after a project ends.
Fashion lawyer and Fashion Law House Africa founder Bernice Asein identified informality and inadequate industry structure as major obstacles to the growth of African fashion businesses.
She argued that many designers enter the market with strong creative abilities but limited understanding of documentation, intellectual property and commercial arrangements.
Asein cited an example of a fashion brand that had attracted a substantial online following and international customers but lacked a clear agreement with its creative director. This created uncertainty over ownership of intellectual property developed for the business.
She explained that a company’s founder may finance and build a brand without automatically owning every creative asset produced by another person. Clear contracts are therefore necessary to establish ownership and prevent disputes.
Asein also raised concerns about the copying of African fashion designs by online businesses and international retailers, noting that individual designers may struggle to respond effectively to infringement on their own.
She called for fashion businesses to become better organised and develop a stronger collective voice in addressing industry-wide problems.
According to her, improved education in fashion law and the establishment of clearer industry standards would help designers recognise the importance of registration, contracts and intellectual property protection before disputes arise.
The discussion also highlighted the need for designers to understand the legal remedies available when their work is copied, including appropriate action against platforms hosting infringing products.
The panel further examined the distinction between registering a business identity and protecting the creative work produced by that business.
Onyido explained that registering a company or business name does not, by itself, secure every design or creative asset associated with it. Designers must identify the appropriate forms of intellectual property protection for their work.
She also cautioned that not every similarity between two garments necessarily amounts to unlawful copying. Fashion professionals need to understand what aspects of a design may qualify for protection and how to identify a genuine infringement.
The discussion turned to the risks associated with manufacturing arrangements, particularly where designers provide patterns or detailed designs to external producers without written restrictions.
Onyido advised fashion entrepreneurs to specify production quantities, permitted uses of their patterns and other essential terms in their manufacturing agreements.
Agosu reinforced the point, noting that businesses should not rely on assumptions or verbal understandings when sharing designs with employees and external manufacturers.
He also described how dividing production responsibilities can help a business protect its methods and reduce the risk of an individual reproducing an entire product independently.
The speakers agreed that documentation is essential to managing relationships with manufacturers, photographers, models and other creative partners, particularly when businesses begin to expand.
The plenary highlighted the growing need to treat fashion not merely as a creative activity but as a structured business sector capable of generating employment, attracting investment and competing internationally.
The speakers’ contributions pointed to several priorities for Nigerian fashion businesses: developing commercially viable products, maintaining consistent production standards, understanding customers, formalising business operations and protecting creative assets through appropriate legal arrangements.
They also emphasised that technology can expand market access, but its benefits are best realised when businesses have reliable systems, clear ownership of intellectual property and strong relationships with their customers.
The session formed part of the broader agenda of the 7th Legal Business Conference, organised under the theme “Law, Commerce and Creativity: Unlocking New Frontiers in Health, Sports and Fashion Law.”