A friend recently asked me to buy her a dress “just because” and I told her to search the gram and forward what she wanted to me. On getting the screenshot, I messaged the fashion outfit as to the cost of the dress which was a mid-length A flare dress, made out of authentic cotton adire worth N32,000.00, a full beaded waistband and some bead detailing on the neck. I was totally unprepared for the cost of N310,000.00 (Three Hundred and Ten Thousand Naira l) and so was my friend who promptly told me not to bother as there was nothing really special about the dress, the material nor the style.
Prior to my enquiry for my friend, I had been thinking a lot about how clothes – (custom made or ready to wear) had suddenly become so expensive lately. A lot of my forays into seller’s DMs ( by the way, why can’t people post their prices upfront) have had me telling many Instagram vendors that their clothes were lovely but were far above my budget. The local designer is no way cheaper. Long gone are the days when going to a tailor was the cheaper and more personalised alternative to buying ready-made outfits. You’d buy your fabric, discuss the style, negotiate a price, and a few days (and maybe many threats later), you had something unique and well-fitted.
But now? Some dressmakers and artisans charge prices that make you wonder if they’re sewing the outfit with gold thread! I recently asked a tailor for the cost of a simple dress with my fabric, and when she told me the price, I had to pause. “For just one dress?” I asked. She confidently replied, “My work is high quality, and I deserve to be paid what I’m worth.”
I get it—skill, time, and effort should be valued. Most people underplay and are unappreciative of the time, effort and the creative energy that goes into the work being offered and I fully support creatives earning a good living from their craft. Being a designer, tailor, baker or artisan isn’t easy—it takes years of learning, patience, and investment in materials and equipment. But at what point does “knowing your worth” become “pricing yourself out of business? and there’s a reality that some seem to be ignoring: a product is only worth what people are willing to pay for it.
If a dressmaker charges more than the cost of a high-end ready-made dress, most people will simply take their money elsewhere. And that’s exactly what’s happening. Many customers who used to patronize local artisans are now either buying off-the-rack or turning to cheaper alternatives. I know people who have stopped using tailors altogether because they feel their prices have become unreasonable and the fact is that it is cheaper to buy off the rack when one figures in the cost of the fabric and sewing and the emotional and mental efforts to get the clothes ready on time.
But then, even ready to wear is becoming untouchable because most designers are charging in foreign currency which they convert to naira and it is the main reason why many don’t put their prices up on the posts so they can have different prices for different people. Most diasporans complain that once a vendor realizes that they are using a foreign number to make enquiries, they jack up their prices and to avoid paying exorbitant prices, they get their family and friends based in Nigeria to contact the vendors via their local numbers.
There’s also this assumption that higher prices automatically equal prestige and that assumption feeds our mentality especially in these parts of the world where we believe that by charging more for things , we are making them and ourselves exclusive. While that might work for luxury brands, the reality is that most customers are looking for value, not just a fancy name or a premium price tag. Some weeks back, a lady bought chicken pepper soup from a celebrity chef and bemoaned the fact that though the soup tasted good, the portion was ridiculously small and didn’t contain any sizable piece of chicken. In fact, if not for the name, there was no recognizable piece of chicken in it. Many people shouted her down telling her she wasn’t the target market of the Chef and she should patronize outlets better suited to her pocket.
My question to the entrepreneurs is that it is one thing to charge a fair price for your skill, but if nobody is willing to pay that price, is it really a smart business move?
And that’s the problem—when local artisans start charging like international brands without matching the same level of customer experience, branding, or finishing, customers will always choose the alternative. I have bought clothes from ready to wear vendors which were not really ready to wear- I had to wait some days. When the clothes were delivered, the finishing was terrible, the colors did not match what was advertised and it was just not worth the money spent.
So what’s the solution? Because let’s be honest—artisans deserve to be well-paid, but they also need to stay in business.
1. Know Your Market: If your target customers are middle-class earners, then your pricing should reflect what they can afford. If you want to serve a high-end market, then everything—from your branding to your customer service—must justify the price.
2. Offer Value for Money: If you’re going to charge premium prices, then your work must match that price. A dress that costs a fortune but is delivered late or has poor finishing won’t inspire repeat customers.
3. Grow With Your Customers: Many of the world’s most successful designers didn’t start by charging outrageous prices. They built a loyal following first, proved their value, and gradually increased their rates. Customers need to feel like your prices are justified.
4. Don’t Lose Touch With Reality: It’s important to remember that people always have alternatives. If your prices push them towards those alternatives, you may find yourself with all the skill in the world but no customers to appreciate it.
At the end of the day, pricing should be about sustainability, not just self-worth. Yes, artisans should be paid fairly, but if no one is willing to pay those prices, then what’s the point? If creatives don’t find a balance, they may wake up one day and realize that the customers they once had, have moved on to more affordable options. The fact is that more and more people are having less disposable income and people will pay less for well copied dupes. An instagram account that I follow @eliza.co.uk reflects these realities as most consumers can hardly tell the difference between designer wears and high street fashion especially now that everyone manufactures in China and shop on Temu.
Another day we will talk about the real estate market and how ridiculously expensive and overpriced it is. Till then if you are a seller and creative please, please, please, balance affordability with value. Things are not as expensive as you make them out to be and we wouldn’t tell you how to price your market, we will just disappear and go elsewhere