Fashion career profile

Banke Kuku

Banke Kuku is a Nigerian textile and fashion designer whose work connects West African colour and pattern with interior and clothing design. Born in Lagos, she moved to the United Kingdom as a child and studied at Central Saint Martins before earning a textiles degree at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Before launching her Lagos-based label in 2011, she worked with fashion houses and interior-design company Designers Guild, including fabric-design work connected with a Royal Collection display. Her business first developed around bespoke printed textiles and interior pieces, then broadened into fashion: she opened a Lagos boutique and debuted womenswear and accessories in 2019, launched e-commerce in 2020, and added childrenswear in 2021. The brand’s official account records the Eko 100 Women Award in 2021 and its first stocking at Galeries Lafayette Doha in 2022; a collaboration with Gabrielle Union also followed that year. Kuku’s recent work discusses digital printing, upcycling and a no-waste approach, though those practices are described as goals and methods rather than proof of a fully certified sustainability standard. Her profile therefore covers both the textiles business and its later apparel expansion.

Role
Founder & Creative Director, Banke Kuku
Nationality
Nigerian