In Cameroon, Lakelle shades the brands of foreign ready-to-wear
(Ecofin agency) - Faced with the limited option of affordable quality clothing, the majority of Africans opt for used items that are mostly of lower quality.To take up this challenge, the sisters Sharon and Viola created Lakelle, a ready-to-wear brand that is very successful.
LAKELLE, a ready-to-wear brand made in Cameroon and distributed worldwide, designs models of simple, chic, affordable and inclusive clothing for women, men and children taking into account "African" morphology.Its economic model is to offer rapid fashion by manufacturing on a large scale.With this approach, the brand takes advantage of scale savings and provides quality products to its customers.
Lakelle was founded in 2017 by the sisters Sharon and Viola from the northwest region of Cameroon.They moved to the United States after high school to continue their studies.Thanks to the influence of their mother who is accountant, they both obtained a baccalaureate in accounting and an MBA.
Passionate about the development of women and entrepreneurship, they entrusted the Ecofin agency that they have always wanted to be part of the actors who provide African solutions to African problems in order to develop the continent.It was in 2008, when Sharon returned to Cameroon, that she quickly identified the need on the quality ready-to-wear clothing market.
"I had a hard time updating my closet, I had the choice either to go to the local market for used products, or wait for the holidays to do my shopping abroad,"she explains.
En essayant de combler cet écart, la première décision du duo d’entrepreneurs a été de devenir un franchisé de toutes les marques connues (H&M en Afrique en 2010), qu’elles ont tenté de convaincre mais sans succès.Following this disappointment and their experience as a series entrepreneurs passionate about fashion, they decided at the time to reflect on a ready-to-wear brand that would solve this problem, and whose manufacture would be done in Cameroon.
Lakelle was created to meet a common challenge to most African urban cities, namely the limited options of affordable quality clothing, office employees who must dress for work every day to parents who must ensure thatTheir children are well dressed for school.To take up this challenge, the majority of the population ends up getting in second -hand items that are mostly exceeded and of lower quality.Others are looking for new affordable but generally unusual articles, while the rare elites buy during their vacation or their business trips abroad, an option that is not profitable.Lakelle thus offers affordable options adapted to the African context.
If the brand is growing, its greatest challenge is the variety and availability of fabrics and accessories, which has a huge impact on its product offer.The brand is currently learning fabrics on the local market, where merchants mainly provide themselves in Nigeria, which constitutes a limit in the options it can offer.Indeed, local merchants tend to store the most requested tissues, not necessarily versatile and quantities that do not allow LAKELLE to satisfy its growing customers.
In addition, the lack of quality accessories also impacts the finishing of his clothes."We are working on the purchase of fabrics and accessories from sources where these challenges are not a problem".The second challenge concerns electronic commerce, mainly the lack of cross -border mobile payment options.
Most customers do not have a bank card or paypal account but have a mobile portfolio and their inability to use it as a means of payment is a real challenge for LAKELLE.
"However, we have adapted to our environment by providing other unconventional electronic commerce payment options such as the transfer of money on our website, but the culture of electronic commerce is still somewhat new for our customers, and weLet us work constantly to educate our customers and provide insurance (return policy) so that they feel comfortable with online purchase, ”they said.
In just a few years, Lakelle has quickly evolved since its creation, from manufacturing to the supply of products.The brand that started with a woman's line today offers lines for men and children in its catalog.Its distribution channel includes a representative in Gabon and the founders hope to add representatives in other countries, in particular in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal where it has a huge audience.
In the future, the sisters Sharon and Viola aims to make Lakelle the leading ready-to-wear brand in Africa.They plan to broaden the supply of products to include accessories such as shoes, beauty products, or even home accessories.
Aïsha Moyouzame
