Interview: American entrepreneur seeks Nigerian fashion designers to work with

An American entrepreneur, Alexis Williams, is offering an opportunity for Nigerian fashion designers to work with her e-commerce business, saying a collaboration would “be an honour.”

Williams, founder and CEO of the Mississippi-based Aloha Glamour, regarded by some as the world’s first “Afrowaiian” high fashion brand, told Pluboard that Nigerian seamstresses could just reach out to her for a possible partnership.

“The work done in Nigeria is unmatched when it comes to the rich auntie vibes, and I really feel like the United States could use some of those rich auntie vibes from the aunties in Nigeria,” said Williams who has also worked with designers from Ghana.

“So yes, I’m always looking for people to collaborate with, brands to collaborate with because the designers, they’re men. I wish I had someone from Nigeria on my design team; that would just elevate the brand even more.

Williams, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, retired at 35 after 17 years of service. Driven by a personal loss, she founded Aloha Glamour shortly after her daughter passed away while she was stationed in Hawaii in 2015.

Williams describes her designs as a way to showcase how pain and loss can be transformed into beauty, a lasting tribute to her daughter. The brand, more than just clothing, is a lifestyle movement promoting self-love for women.

Her unique Afro-Hawaiian clothing line has garnered national recognition, including a business grant from Beyonce and a “Top Mississippi Business” listing on Oprah.com.

“I just used my pain and turned it into my passion, and you too can use your pain to turn it into your passion or your mission into a message,” she said.

“And I feel like if you feel good, if you look good, you feel good, and that exudes not only in the way you interact with others but also in the way that you speak to yourself. So, wear colour. It’s a choice. You have to wake up every day and choose colour, choose culture, choose community, and that’s what I did.”

Fashion Fusion

Aloha Glamour is a vibrant celebration of cultural fusion, with African and Hawaiian traditions at its centre, creating an “Afrowaiian” style that’s both bold and colourful.

The brand’s impact extends beyond fashion. In the past two years, Williams said she witnessed a cultural shift along the Mississippi Gulf Coast as people embraced prints more readily, a “movement” she attributes to Aloha Glamour.

“I have children now that write me, they call me ‘Aunty’, I talked about Africa, I talked about Nigeria in class’,” Williams beamed. “And you know, prior to Aloha Glamour, that’s not something they probably would have talked about. So that makes me very, very happy to know that I’ve created such a cultural movement in the South.”

At Phoenix Fashion Week last October, Williams showcased her style, and its African undertone.

“Aloha Glamour was an unforgettable runway show when it came down to overall performance, music, designs, and Williams herself,” wrote a reviewer, Alana Lynch.

“As Williams was introduced after her showcase, her presence on stage was not something that could be missed, as she showed her fierceness and vibrant spirit.”

Going viral

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the demand for personal protective equipment skyrocketed in the US. Williams pivoted to producing washable African-print masks, a decision she didn’t know would have a profound impact.

The company’s success in selling the reversible, cotton masks went viral in the US and led to unexpected benefits for women seamstresses in faraway Ghana.

These seamstresses, who fulfilled Aloha Glamour’s mask orders, were able to use the surge in business to upgrade their operations.

“With that, people from almost every state in the US have bought from Aloha Glamour now, and that just makes me so excited,” she said.

Williams said she started with Ghana as her first African source because “it was the first country that I came across.” The connection was also personal as she said she fell in love with the culture through her fiancé, a Ghanaian, at the time.

“His mother would come visit us for months, and when she came, she would cook and bring me these fabrics,” she said.

“The relationship they had, the way they expressed their love, the way they communicated – I just fell in love with the culture through them, through their representation of their culture.”

Aloha Glamour continues to source authentic African-made products from Nigeria’s neighbour and traditional rival. She was in the country in January to work with more designers.

In Ghana, it takes corporate social responsibility seriously, supporting a free school of over 50 children, supplementing the teachers’ salaries, and assisting in paying for renovations in the school’s washroom and kitchen.

Today, she might have started with Nigeria, Williams quipped during our interview.

To Nigerian designers, she said: “Do not be afraid to shoot your shot; please, I beg, go to Aloha Glamour’s Instagram or our website because I would love to work with all of you in Nigeria. I would love to sell to all of you, but more importantly, I would love to support and collaborate with brands that are based in Nigeria.”

Looking ahead, Williams aspires to expand Aloha Glamour to every American state, and have a footing in clear Nigeria and elsewhere.

“I do hope to have Aloha Glamour in strategic locations, brick and mortar, across the United States,” she said.

“Not only that, I plan to attend my first Lagos Fashion Week. I want to come. I saw that you all have a good time for the fashion week. So I do want to attend a fashion week, and hopefully through attending, I can meet some collaborators and people that I can partner with out of Nigeria.”

She also hopes that by doing what she does with a purpose and a passion, not just for money, “investors will come.”

Read our full interview with Alexis Williams below:

All right, welcome Alexis. How is Aloha Glamour?

Thank you. Aloha Glamour is well. Right now we’re preparing for our trip to West Africa. So I’m very excited about that.

Good. The trip, is it in the next couple of weeks?

Oh, yes. It’s within like four days.

Oh!

And I’m very excited. Like I cannot wait.

Beautiful. So what exactly is the trip for. I know you have an extension in Ghana. So what is this about?

The trip that’s coming up is about me going over to actually connect with the artisans who make 65% of my clothing that I sell within Aloha Glamour and what Aloha Glamour is. Um, we are creating cultural fashion for trim-setters whom I encourage to live in colour. Living in colour is our motto that we live by. Yeah.

Good. For the benefit of readers and audience who don’t really know much about Aloha Glamour. Just give us some more details, some highlights about the company and the unique things about it.

So Aloha Glamour was created in 2017. I was stationed in Hawaii when my daughter, she was born and died there. And with her culture being African born in Hawaii, I thought it was important for me to create a brand that represented who she was and to me she was Afro-Hawaiian. So I merged those two cultures to create this unique brand that everyone knows as Aloha Glamour.

Fantastic! The journey since then has been, I would imagine, as a normal business, filled with ups and downs.

The majority of the challenges that I deal with… I do have an African brand in the state of Mississippi. And for those who do not know, Mississippi is in the South, and it already has its own negative connotations when it comes to the relations between African-Americans and other races. So definitely having this unique brand in Mississippi, sometimes, is a challenge because some people don’t wear African print every day or cultural prints every day like I do.

But I will say, within the last two years, I feel like the brand has been able to kind of connect with individuals to the point where they want to discover their culture now and they’re wearing more prints. So to definitely see that move along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, that movement that we’ve created, words cannot even explain it. I have children now that write me, they call me “Auntie,” and they’re like, “I talked about Africa, I talked about Nigeria in class.” And you know, prior to Aloha Glamour, that’s not something that they probably would have talked about. So that makes me very, very happy to know that I’ve created such a cultural movement in the South.

And some of the high points that Aloha Glamour has experienced: we were given a grant by Beyoncé. We’ve been featured on Oprah’s website, in GQ, and in a couple of African publications as well. Right before Covid, we went viral for being one of the first to sell African print masks. This was before the CDC even proclaimed Covid to be a thing. So our quick thinking and pivoting from clothing to masks was essential and vital in our “viralness”, if that makes sense. It made us go viral. With that, people from almost every state in the US have bought from Aloha Glamour now, and that just makes me so excited.

Pretty much. Do you receive orders from Nigeria, Ghana and other parts of Africa? Do you receive a lot of orders from them?

Oh, no, I don’t actually. And I mean, I take it like y’all are the hub for this, for the cultural everything. So, it’s like selling ice to an Eskimo. Like y’all have the resources. So I haven’t received many orders from the continent. However, I do employ a lot of individual seamstresses, people who do my work, my labels. I try to get as much as I can done in Africa because it’s very important for me to give back in so the cultures and communities in which I feel like my daughter represents.

I asked that in the sense that although you would say the resources are here, the culture, the ingredients are here, but what you have been able to do in terms of putting them together, placing those things on a global platform. Nigerians do buy from a lot of companies. I’ll give you an example. There is oil here, but if it is refined abroad, they reimport again.

So, it looks to me that if Nigerians get to know about us, I would definitely be hopeful that they will try to place orders and get copies of the materials that are on sale.

Yes, that would be nice. Orders are nice, but I look forward more to having people from Nigeria, like seamstresses, work with Aloha Glamour in collaboration. The work done in Nigeria is unmatched when it comes to the rich auntie vibes, and I really feel like the United States could use some of those rich auntie vibes from the aunties in Nigeria. So yes, I’m always looking for people to collaborate with, brands to collaborate with because the designers, they’re men. I wish I had someone from Nigeria on my design team; that would just elevate the brand even more.

So, are you on the lookout for that? Are you trying to get in touch with them?

Yes, there are a lot of nice brands that I follow on Instagram, and I haven’t reached out yet in terms of partnership or collaborations, but I do have my eyes on you all. So if you happen to visit Aloha Glamour’s Instagram page and you’re thinking, “I think we can work together,” please send me a DM because I am so open to it.

I wanted to ask you to assume – which is a fact – that you are talking to Nigerians now. They read us and listen to us. So you just go ahead and speak to them as if you want to reach out to them or they want to reach out to you to work together. What would you say?

I would say do not be afraid to shoot your shot; please, I beg, go to Aloha Glamour’s Instagram or our website because I would love to work with all of you in Nigeria. I would love to sell to all of you, but more importantly, I would love to support and collaborate with brands that are based in Nigeria. Because you all exude those rich auntie vibes. Yes.

Last October you said were to Aloha was to feature is designs on the Phoenix Fashion Week. How did that go?

So Phoenix Fashion Week was definitely an experience. The love and the comments that I received after the show, man. It just made my heart so full to know that cultural fashion is embraced in that area, is wanted in that area. Meant a whole lot to me, so I definitely loved the Phoenix fashion scene.

Last time we asked you about your choice of Ghana when you wanted to reach out to Africa. I want to pose that question again to you because, I mean, there’s this kind of rivalry between Nigerians and Ghanaians. So, why Ghana?

Why Ghana, about 12 years ago? I fell in love with the culture of Ghana through this man that I was dating at the time, his name was Ato Kwamina. His mother would come visit us for months, and when she came, she would cook and bring me these fabrics. The relationship they had, the way they expressed their love, the way they communicated – I just fell in love with the culture through them, through their representation of their culture. So, that’s why I started in Ghana because Ghana was the first country that I came across. Now, maybe I would have started in Nigeria.

Yeah, I can understand that. Let me ask you on the business side, from a business perspective. You’ve achieved quite well in a very short time. A few years ago, you started this, and this is where you are. In terms of strategy, what do you think you have done that worked so well to get Aloha to where it currently stands? Is it your team? Is it a strategy or something? What has really made it work well for you?

I think what has made it work the most is me just doing it scared. I started for my mental health, I didn’t start because I wanted to sell clothing. It just so happened that the cultural clothing, the African fabrics, the Hawaiian fabrics, spoke to me in a way that I was like, “Man, these colours are so vibrant. You can’t help but be happy when you wear them.” So, not only was it me starting a business scared, it was also about creating a community around it. I share my story; all of us have gone through something tragic. I just used my pain and turned it into my passion, and you too can use your pain to turn it into your passion or your mission into a message. And I feel like if you feel good, if you look good, you feel good, and that exudes not only in the way you interact with others but also in the way that you speak to yourself. So, wear colour. It’s a choice. You have to wake up every day and choose colour, choose culture, choose community, and that’s what I did.

I saw in a previous interview you had that “the profits made are used to make a direct international economic impact on the men and women who support the making of our brand and a local free school.” Would you like to say a little more on that? What do you mean?

Yeah, I will. Thank you for that question. So when you make a purchase from Aloha Glamour, you’re not just supporting me as a single mother; you’re supporting Janet, who also lives in Ghana. She’s a single mother too. She uses the money to pay for her rent and send her child to school. With the exchange rate being how it is right now, a little goes a long way. And not only in Ghana, but also in Nigeria, I’ve been keeping my eyes on the naira too.

So, yes, so you understand. You can understand that when somebody buys from me, that enables me to order more from the people who create for Aloha Glamour. So not only, again, are you supporting me and Mississippi, but you’re supporting internationally. And every year, we go to KCC Ebenezer free school. It’s a free school in Ghana where a lot of the children are either orphans or their parents can’t afford to pay the school fees. And when I go next month, I think they’ll be out for Christmas. But you know, I do plan on donating some money to support their snacks. I love the snacks and you know, whatever they need. Last time we went, we started to build their kitchen, and their kitchen is fully built now, so next, I want to work on their bathroom.

Yeah, it sounds really interesting. I was wondering when I saw on Aloha’s website. You see photos of school children in Ghana, and I thought to ask why is this so important to you?

It’s so important to me because my daughter, she didn’t make it to her first birthday. So I don’t get to support her going to grade school or middle school or university. But she lives on through the donations and the love that comes out of Aloha Clinic.

That’s right. Just to say sorry for your loss. It’s fine to see the things you are doing in respect of that.

So, where do you see Aloha in the next five years or thereabouts? What’s the goal like? Is it expanding? You’ve spoken about Nigeria collaboration and stuff like expanding. And if that were to be the case, what do you look at the possibilities in terms of credit? How do you get that financed?

Oh, five years. I do hope to have Aloha Glamour in strategic locations, brick and mortar, across the United States. Not only that, I plan to attend my first Lagos Fashion Week. I want to come. I saw that you all have a good time for the fashion week. So I do want to attend a fashion week, and hopefully through attending, I can meet some collaborators and people that I can partner with out of Nigeria.

As far as the credit goes. Hey, we have faith in God. God is going to make it happen because we’re not just doing it for the money. Like we have a purpose and a passion, and I believe that if you’re doing it for the right reasons, the investors, they will come.

Interesting. I wish you the best.

Thank you.

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