Hawkers: Why we dress to kill

By Abolaji Adebayo, Damilola Kushimo and Saheed Afolabi

With about 15 loaves of bread in the tray sitting prettily on her head, Adeola komolafe, moved with gait, swaggering along as she called out her potential customers to buy.

Beyond her swaggering, Komolafe has on her, a gorgeous dress and diamond-tinted Brazilian hair. This, she matched with newly painted nails, eyelashes, and a silver-like bracelet.

Such expensive wears may not be common among bread sellers of old, but public observers say Komolafe’s type of dress is the trendy lifestyle of today’s bread hawkers and other ladies who engage in petty trading.

“I dress to satisfy myself and look attractive,” Komolafe told ECHONEWS in apparent rebuttal of what observers said has become trendy.

“The way I dress is the way I would be addressed. I need to look beautiful whether I’m selling or not. I must spend on my dressing as part of my life, that is what is trending,” she added.

However, Komolafe has another agenda:bto lure men for marriage.

In a chat with ECHONEWS, another bread seller at Jakande Estate, Ejigbo who simply gave her name as Shade said she dresses well to impress customers and prospective suitors.

Not minding the fact that her outfits are more expensive than the products she displayed for sale , noting that she also uses the opportunity of dressing well to entice her male customers.

“Aside from attracting customers, I am a single lady, I have to dress to attract good suitor who would take me as a wife. And I know my dressing is part of what men would look for in me, good dressing is part of women’s beauty,” she stated.

When asked whether she has been able to secure a good suitor with her dressing, she said she turned down most of those who wooed her because the few she has dated have always disappointed her.

Our correspondent came across a local herb seller at Ailegun junction in Ejigbo who addressed herself as Titi.

Titi disclosed that she set herself to catch the attention of male customers who patronise her more than the female customers

She said that her dressiing would persuade male customers to patronise her.

According to a religious leader and public analyst in Isolo, the act continues to trend especially among petty traders who dress more expensively than their wares.

It is not uncommon to see a typical bread seller whose total business capital is not more than N5,000, putting on wears worth of N10,000, fixing nails for N2,000, plaiding hair for N9,000.

An investigation by ECHONEWS confirmed that the majority of the petty traders who dress above their incomes do so to attract men who could spend for them rather than attracting more customers, borrowing money to invest in fashion.

According to Kemisola Afolabi, an orange seller who spoke to ECHONEWS, a good trader must look gorgeous to attract customers.

She noted that though some of them may have some other motives behind their dressing, the major target is to attract customers, saying “If you dress neatly, you may attract good men and subsequently get a good husband especially if you are single. The way you dress will determine the kind of people that patronise you and even woo you because you cannot sit at home and expect to meet those who would help you in life.”

“It’s important we dress neat, smart, and attractive because neatness is one of the factors we believe people consider before they can patronise us. Though people often misinterpret our nature of dressing for something else, that’s not true. If you observe very well, many people are doing this business here and that’s to tell you that there’s serious competition among us all so we must dress attractively so that we can be patronised. Very early in the morning, I can decide to station myself at a junction or hawk, it depends,” Salami Nimota, who sells sachet alcohol drinks and fried meat in Isolo told ECHONEWS.

Popoola Anuoluwapo has this to say: “Dressing attractively doesn’t mean anything. It is just to appeal to our customers and to make them understand that we are neat and our herbal concoctions are neatly processed. You can imagine going to a canteen and finding out that they are not neat or clean, will you patronise them at all? Even if you’ve settled to eat, you might change your mind and leave the place. That’s how it is for us. We believe that our mode of dressing is one of the appeals that we must make good use of for sale’s sake.”

One of the observers, Mrs. Adeola Ilori, a psychologist and a businesswoman living in Oshodi, noted that there are other motives behind such expensive dresses beyond attracting customers. She said many of them dress expensively to lure men to milk them, sourcing funds from any sources..

According to her, the majority of the ladies get loans from microfinance banks to buy clothes, fix nails, plait their hairs, expecting to attract who would fund them to repay their loans.

while carrying out their businesses.

“However, many of them, when they can’t meet up with their targets or fail to get men to fund them, turn street prostitutes as means to get the loan repaid,” she noted.

Abigail (not real name) is a native of Oyo State who resides in Ibadan but sells herbal concoctions (agbo) in Oshodi during the weekends.

Abigail would travel from Ibadan on Friday down to Lagos to sell agbo and go back to her residence in Ibadan on Monday morning.

It would be difficult for anybody to know what Abigail does for a living if they don’t get closer to her or meet her where she sells her product.

She dresses as someone working in a big company with a different hairstyle and costly fabrics with matching shoes and jewelry.

Does she make the money from the agbo she sells only during the weeks? No!

Abigail told our correspondent that she only makes meager income from the trade and that the main purpose of her dressing is to make more money aside her

The mother of two kids confided in Echonews that she has two male friends who support her financially. She said she was able to get the attention of her ‘wealthy’ friends by wearing expensive attires.

Abigail.makes more than N4,000 weekly but not enough to feed the family.

She said she was able to catch those men through her dressing, adding that though other men also approach her, the majority of those who woo her are averagely well-to-do.

“What do I sell? How much do I make from the business to get such money to take good care of myself? To be factual, most of those who deal in petty trading like this and wear costly attires get financial supports elsewhere.

“I’m not saying they engage in prostitution but for you to be selling small goods that all your business are not more than N20,000 and your dressing on daily basis worth about N10,000 to N15,000, there must be other sources.

“For me, I have chosen to have two men aside from my husband who could support me financially. I am not a prostitute and I cannot engage in that and that is why I limit myself to two men to support me. And what do you expect? I must always look neat to win their hearts.”