Iretidayo Zaccheaus is the 21-year-old bridging the gap between generations of fashion and culture enthusiasts in Nigeria, and giving them a place to express themselves. To make this happen, the young trailblazer founded millennial streetwear convention Street Souk and she shows no signs of slowing down, despite any potential roadblocks facing young Nigerians. 

“Cool,” “effortless” and “unique” are some of the terms that come to mind when we think about street style—a youthful aesthetic which encompasses aspects of hip-hop culture, haute couture and modern fashion. Its wearers are often considered the pinnacle of modern youth culture and are known to grace social media style inspiration pages, fashion magazines and blogs. For Zaccheaus streetwear is a way of life, an expression of creativity and an opportunity to amplify the Nigerian and larger African scene.

The Street Souk convention, which she founded in 2018, was not only inspired by her mother’s own fashion souk in Nigeria, but also by her own passion for streetwear brands and culture since the age of 11.

In April 2018, after one of her mother’s fashion events, the entrepreneur decided she wanted to do her own spin on it, and cater it to a different demographic. It took Zacheaus five to six months to come up with the concept of Street Souk and eight months later in December 2018, the first convention was held in Lagos, Nigeria.

Zaccheaus says that the first event is particularly special to her because she was involved in the entire process from start to finish—from planning to picking the brands that would show. Watching her “passion project,” come to life from drawings on paper to the in-person convention proved to her that she was capable of bringing her vision to life and that the “sky's the limit,” as she puts it. 

It certainly helped that Zaccheaus was no stranger to event planning, thanks to years of working with her mother, who also runs one of the biggest event planning businesses in Nigeria, as well as her older brother who’s a musician.

Her experience helped turn the event into something that was needed from the Nigerian events space. “Street Souk is an experience” Zaccheaus says, it is for “the community to come together, enjoy the music, shop and display the creative talent of Nigeria.”

It has a “wow factor” because attendees come into a space where they can see 50 or so Nigerian streetwear brands with amazing innovation, quality and great designs come together like never before. 

     Image Courtesy of Iretidayo Zaccheaus

                     Image Courtesy of Iretidayo Zaccheaus

“We are inspired by the things around us, and young kids especially,” says Zacchaeus. “The age range for Street Souk is from 12 to over 30s and you have 12–13-year-old kids coming in who are now saying one day I want to have a clothing brand.”

Hopefully, those children can now dream bigger because they know it’s possible because of Street Souk. “The brands featured at the event are created by people from their communities or those they went to school with, and as such, they can start to believe that the world is really their oyster,” she adds.

Street Souk also provides small businesses with an opportunity to grow and spread their wings, as it’s a unique place for brand owners and others in the industry to network. Zacchaeus believes it’s important for Nigerian’s to take full ownership of their work and creations, and the convention is an extension of that. “We have originality in us and there is no reason why we can’t put it out ourselves.”

“My role is providing a platform to push these brands into the limelight and give them an opportunity to grow their business and creativity.”

Zacchaeus says that seeing the growth of certain brands from the first convention to now has been inspirational and it’s something she takes great pride in. “I am happy that Street Souk is the driving force of this that can put Nigerians and Africans on the map.” She adds that many brands have collaborated after meeting at the convention, which is a big deal considering how big streetwear is in Africa. “I just want to give the streets their props and the people the recognition they deserve,” she says.

Additionally, the 21-year-old hopes that Street Souk encourages more women to join the male-dominated streetwear scene, especially African women. “Being a woman in every aspect of life is the best thing in the world” she says, but it doesn’t come with its disadvantages, especially as a young woman.

She tells me that African women are pigeonholed into a role, with societal pressure to conform to what is “expected” of a woman, but adds firmly that she “won’t let anyone put me in a box.” 

“I’ve always done things that are considered male-dominated like playing football for Crystal Palace, and I love it when people doubt me because it pushes me ten times harder.” She admits that while she’s had to “earn her stripes,” she may not have faced hurdles in the same way that other young aspiring creatives might have, due to her proximity to the industry.

Although she initially struggled to get sponsors when she first started out as a 19-year-old, she credits her previous work in the events industry and “the right connections” she made along the way for easing that burden.

She ticked off another major personal goal at the end of last year, when she released her first international collaboration with US-based Ghanaian designer, entrepreneur and DJ, Virgil Abloh and his fashion house, Off-White. Abloh, who founded Off-White in 2013 and serves as the CEO of the company, released an “I support young Nigerian women” t-shirt with Street Souk as part of a project named “Products of Africa” aimed at highlighting young people building on the continent.

Zaccheaus, who sees Abloh as a mentor, says that this collaboration gave her and Street Souk a “legit factor” which helped push the brand. “People in Nigeria don’t rate you unless you have that outside support, which is a shame because there are so many talented people doing big things in the homeland,” she says. The t-shirt collaboration came at the right time, she tells me, especially with the feminist coalition and young Nigerian women currently being at the forefront of the biggest shifts in culture and politics. For that she is “grateful.”

Another challenge she’s faced is the impact of Covid-19 on live events. Zacchaeus tells me that for a while—and up until the day of the third convention in December of last year—she had thoughts of cancelling, but looking back now she is happy that the convention happened, especially during a year of turmoil and crisis for many people and industries. The convention had to take several measures to be COVID-compliant, including strict social distancing rules, requiring people to sanitize before touching anything and mask-wearing.To adhere to the guidelines and provide a safe space, the team also had to reduce the number of tickets they sold and the number of brands that would show at the convention.

This year Street Souk hosted 50 brands instead of its previous 65, but despite this, Zaccheaus says that “tickets sold out instantly and many people were trying to still get tickets even up to the day.” Outside of the pandemic, the young CEO says it was particularly important that the third convention happened in order to have a happy end to a tumultuous year, which saw Nigeria’s youth take on the government with the #EndSARS movement. 

                     Image Courtesy of Iretidayo Zaccheaus

     Image Courtesy of Iretidayo Zaccheaus

In October 2020, protests led by young Nigerians spilled into various cities in the country, and around the world. The #EndSARS hashtag soon started trending across social media, garnering the movement global attention. With that same youth-centered drive that propelled the #EndSARS movement, the 21-year-old, who also juggles her time as a master’s student in London, wants Street Souk to be remembered as being a “bridge that connected the streetwear community” in Nigeria and across Africa.

The fourth installation of Street Souk is expected to happen at the end of this year, (although a specific date has yet to be set), and Zacchaeus sees the convention expanding into more parts of the continent in the next five to 10 years, before plans to fully take over the world. “The motherland has the highest youth population and there are so many people with potential,” says the founder. “Africa is what I wanted, it’s the main market and [it’s] where I am most comfortable, so the focus is there for now, global expansion will come later.”