How I Have Sustained My Fashion Bizness

• KENNY JONES Reveals His Success Secrets

Kehinde Olayiwola, popularly known as Kenny Jones, explained how he has sustained his fashion business for over 31 years.

Speaking at his Birthday party which he celebrated with his twin brother, Taiwo, that was held on October 22, in Lagos, Jones said that when they started, they didn’t know that they would grow to the level that they are today. “The only thing I can say is that as a starter, you shouldn’t let money be your drive. You should let your passion for the job drive you. You must love what you do because if you don’t, it may be the beginning of your fall.

“My first 10 years of starting the Kenny Jones brand was not half-shaped because, in those days, we didn’t have social media to publicize what we did as we have it today. We started in 1992 and to the glory of God, we are 31 years in the industry this year.

“When we started 31 years ago, we allowed our passion to drive us and not what we are going to get from the business, and that has paid off.

“You know that fashion is dynamic and time-bound, it changes with time and as a designer, if you want to stay relevant, you have to keep up with the trends,” he said.

According to him, when they were learning, there was nothing like the application of stones to fabrics for men, it was strictly for ladies and not even this kind of fabric. “If you expect me to still be sewing and designing with the patterns I learned when I started in 1988, it will definitely not fly, I will become obsolete and irrelevant.

“So today, there are new challenges and we are keeping up with the challenge to stay relevant. It’s a whole lot of new experience for us and we are enjoying every bit of it because of the passion we have for the job.

“When I started, I started with making suits for top ministers of God, the likes of Pastor E.A. Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo, Baba Kalejaye, Baba Ebenezer Obey, and many more. Later on, we added ladies’ wear and today, the trend has moved to kaftans and many other designs.”

Kenny Jones who also sings and drums with his brother and is also a minister of the word of God, urged that there is continuity when you involve the younger generation in whatever you do. “We want our youths to be involved in this successful journey that started 31 years ago and we want it to be a lifelong transaction.

“We have a plan to bring some of our youths into this line of business. We are building a big factory and an institution where we can train professionals. Right now, a lot of our youths are stranded; some of them don’t even know what is next for them so we want to use this platform to cause a change for the next generation.

“We want to get them positively busy so that they can make something meaningful out of life for themselves,” he stressed.

By Benprince Ezeh

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