SME series: Hat Arena seeks partnership with UK designers

Hat Arena, a fast-rising and Afro-centric fashion company, has announced its plan to partner with frontline designers in the United Kingdom.

Registered in South Africa under its parent company Niktuni Business Enterprise in 2012, Hat Arena is presently charting a new course in the UK, with already established offices and outlets in South Africa and Nigeria.

The company specializes in all types of hats, including fascinators and hatinators. It also produces and does retail on everyday wear as well as all occasional caps for men, women and children.

In addition, Hat Arena designs and produces custom-made hats and caps for all ages and price ranges.

Notably, due to its proven creativity and innovative credo, the company has had the privilege of designing hats for a number of highly placed dignitaries and wealthy clients, since its inception in the industry.

Increasing visibility

Hat Arena founder and chief executive Oyinike Biobaku said the organization is poised to go into a collaboration with some of the fashion designers, to draw more clients and increase the company’s visibility and patronage in the UK.

“I recently relocated to UK. I intend to expand my business here. I have so far gotten some clients, but I am still hoping to have more. At the moment, I operate on a small scale because I am still planning and strategizing on the way forward,” she told Pluboard.

“Interestingly, I have people that patronise my products within and outside of the UK. Don’t forget that I still have my clients in South Africa and Nigeria,” she said.

“We are interested in the millinery sector. We are also looking at accessories as a whole and fashion in general, because as we speak now some designers in South Africa are using our hand-made flowers to decorate their garments”, she further explained.

Biobaku started by producing hand-made hats. With machines now, her company can produce more quantities.

“We are looking forward to the purchase of processing machine for moulding, which have the capacity to produce more than 100 hats per day and we can get it here in the UK. We have the same machine in our factory in South Africa,” she said.

The company is working of resolving documentation and certification in UK after the relocation, she said.