As a teenager, Omowunmi Tella was never quite satisfied with the clothes her mother’s tailors made for her. She would take a needle and thread – a skill she had learnt in Junior Secondary School, and quietly make the amendments herself. “That frustration became curiosity, and curiosity became craft”.
By Eberechi Obinagwam
As a teenager, Omowunmi Tella was never quite satisfied with the clothes her mother’s tailors made for her. She would take a needle and thread – a skill she had learnt in Junior Secondary School, and quietly make the amendments herself. “That frustration became curiosity, and curiosity became craft,” she told TheNiche in an interview. Then, she realised she had an eye for fit, finish, and distinction. “Fashion chose me because I wanted to wear clothes that reflected dignity and class, and I decided to build a brand that gives other women that same feeling.”
Today, Omowunmi has built a brand that gives other women same feeling she chased with that needle and thread as a teenager. She runs Glam & Classy Multiconcept Limited, a company that specializes in contemporary African wear, luxury statement pieces, and handcrafted accessories using traditional textiles like Aso-oke in Ibadan. She runs a catering business alongside it, a skill she also learned in her secondary school Food and Nutrition class.
Training process
When Omowunmi discovered her passion for fashion, she moved from neatly mending her own clothes with needle and thread to unpicking ready-made clothes and using them as patterns. “This is because I didn’t know how to draft measurements,” she said. After school each day, she would run down to tailors around her street to help with small tasks and watched how they worked the machine. “My skill is a gift from God that I sharpened through experience. I was self-taught at first,” she said.
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Seeing how dedicated she was, her aunt gave her the sewing machine she had received on her wedding day. “That was my first machine and my first real vote of confidence”, she enthused. With the sewing machine, Omowunmi made outfits for a friend and her family for her brother’s wedding. “Day 1: In 2008, I made outfits for my friend and her family for her brother’s wedding and they loved it,” she recalled.
Word spread and she started getting referrals. “I started from my parents’ living room with just that one machine. No shop, no signboard — just skill and referrals,” she said.
Because she believed that entrepreneurship and paid employment can co-exist with the right systems, she secured a paid job after graduating from the University and built her brand alongside her 9-5 job. “I believed then, and I still do, that entrepreneurship and paid employment can co-exist if you build the right systems. The job gave me stability while the business gave me purpose. Today, my systems run the fashion house and the catering business even while I am at work, and that discipline has made me a better manager in the business space”, she said.
To stay current, she took professional courses in Lagos during her leave to master finishing and contemporary techniques. “I still attend trainings to stay current”, she said. Aside being a fashion designer, Omowunmi runs a catering business, a skill she also learned in her secondary school. “I did Food and Nutrition in secondary school and that endeared me to Catering. I also had the opportunity to practice cooking at home while growing up and my late dad always enjoyed the meals I made, especially my cakes and fresh juices. Along the line he decided to fix the oven of our cooker and the rest is history,” she said.
“I also got my first catering job in the polytechnic Ibadan and also from my church etc,” she added.
Startup capital
Capital wasn’t a challenge for Omowunmi because she was already in paid employment when she started. “I used my salary to buy equipment gradually. I also leveraged what I had — my skills, my network, and my living room,” she said. She said starting lean taught her prudence. “As revenue came in, I reinvested into more machines, better fabrics, and people,” she said.
Breaking into the market
Referrals were Omowunmi’s strongest marketing tool in the early years. She didn’t have to struggle with visibility or pay for advertising. This is because people admired what she wore, and whenever she told them she made it herself, they asked her to make pieces for them too. “Referrals became my strongest marketing tool,” she said. Within the first year, the demand grew beyond what she could handle alone. “So, I began employing stylists to sew while I was at work. That growth led to the official registration of “Glam & Classy Multiconcept Limited in 2016″, ” she said.
Experience
The founder of Glam & Classy Multiconcept Limited said there were moments that tested her. Deadlines with faulty machines. A staff member wasting a client’s expensive fabric. Clients who, no matter how beautiful the outfit, were hard to please. And the pressure of balancing a 9-5 with clients who wanted her to personally sew their clothes. “At one point I lost a few clients over timing issues. I almost thought; ‘Maybe this is too much,’” she said.
She said what kept her going was God and the reviews that would come later. “When those same clients stepped out and got compliments, they came back with even bigger referrals. That taught me: excellence always speaks for itself, even when the process is messy.”
Breakthrough
Omowunmi’s breakthrough first came when her designs started flying abroad. “International clients began ordering and posting pictures from outside Nigeria. That told me: “This is bigger than Ibadan. If the world could appreciate Glam & Classy, then I had a responsibility to keep building,” she said.
Plight of business owners in Nigeria
Omowunmi said her biggest challenge this year has been the rising cost of quality fabrics and maintaining skilled tailors in a harsh economy. To solve it, she doubled down on systems. “We standardized our processes, trained in-house, and focused on value over volume. We also communicate better with clients on timelines and pricing so they understand the craft behind the cost. Quality and professionalism are non-negotiable for us,” she said.
Her take on Japa
The Founder of Glam & Classy Multiconcept Limited said she chose to stay to give back to the society that raised her. She said. “I have thought about it. But I realized that as many people leave, it creates space for those who stay to thrive and to build. My fashion and catering business already serves international clients, so location is not a limitation. I chose to stay to give back to the society that raised me, to employ young people here, and to show that world-class brands can come out of Ibadan.”
About Omowunmi
Omowunmi is the founder and creative director of Glam & Classy Multiconcept Ltd, a registered Nigerian fashion brand known for elegant, classy, and Made-in-Nigeria designs.
She is a proud alumna of Saint Louis Grammar School, Mokola, Ibadan and a graduate of Mass Communication from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. She also holds a Professional Diploma from the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and is a certified PR practitioner.
Omowunmi currently serve as a member of the Women Campaign Directorate of Allied People’s Movement, where she champion programs to empower women and attract Gen Z into politics through skills, mentorship, and purpose-driven community.
