CROSS-CONTINENTAL COUTURE

The founder of wax print retailer Dovetailed on her business beginnings, her surprise fashion heritage and why African prints are for all occasions

- Nicole Vassell

For Adaku Parker, a career in fashion and textile merchandising was never part of the grand plan. In fact, most of her adult life has been spent deeply entrenched in the legal world, working as a criminal barrister. It wasn't until she was pregnant with her second child in 2016 that she had the thought of doing something different with her working days. Though her job was "great, for a time," the feeling of change was on the horizon. And it all started with a chance viewing of The Great British Sewing Bee.

"It really sparked an interest," she explains.

"I took some classes over the course of the year, and I ended up trying about 20 different workshops." Although she started as a complete sewing beginner, her skills soon developed from making small accessories, such as scrunchies, to skirts and then full outfit pieces. While her abilities grew, an element that remained the same from the very beginning was the use of African wax print in her creations. "I'd bring it along to use in nearly every class that I did," Adaku says. "It wasn't a specific decision I made - I grew up wearing the fabric, and I always had some on hand, from holidays and other occasions, so it was very natural for me to use it when I started to sew." Now that a clear creative pathway had opened up in her mind, Adaku then had the idea of sharing some of the fabrics that she'd collected over the years with a wider audience. After all, if she loved them so much, why wouldn't there be others on the lookout for similar items? "It all started in a simple way," she remembers.

"I brought fabric that I already had to a market on the off-chance that someone might want some," she says. And when it became clear people were interested in buying, the seeds of a business were planted.

SETTING UP SHOP