Read About The Nigerian Factory Responsible For Producing Louis Vuitton Leather

Last week it was revealed to the public via social media that Nigeria’s leather factory ‘God’s Little Tannery’ is actually responsible for supplying leather to one of the top European fashion houses ‘Louis Vuitton’.

Said Tweet came from The Economist’s correspondent Eleanor Whitehead, whose recent tour around Northern Nigeria included a visit to the city of Kano, where she met the team at the tannery.

Ms Whitehead took a few shots of the establishment, which is owned by Igbo businessman Chief Koffy Ndubuisi Udeagha, captioning her Twit-pic;

“This is God’s Little Tannery, one of Kano’s last surviving leather tanneries. It supplies Louis Vuitton”

Garnering over 1,000 retweets, word of the factory spread fast, with one question arising: How is it that Nigeria can make such wondrous products and supply a global brand like Vuitton, yet struggle to sell such products internationally and create its own brands with the same magnitude?

In contrast to news of the tannery’s success, the reporter also shared a shot of Kano’s closed shoe factory, captioning;

“Sad sight of a non-operational shoe factory in Kano. It’s had to deal with a litany of problems in the past decade.”

It brings the question when some argue that one can not label using waxed print as African fashion because the prints are not from Africa. Would that mean that Louis V is African fashion? #Lol

Image source: @Nellwhitehead, Jaruma.net