The Most Beautiful Things Start with K-Leg: My First Fabric Sourcing Trip.
- Chinwe Oranye
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Updated: May 30
I thought my first fabric sourcing trip was going to be a breeze - like in the movies, sashaying from store to store in exotic sunglasses and designer wear.
I had done my research, or at least what passed for research then, the internet wasn’t nearly as useful as it is today.
We are talking over eleven years ago, so most of the information I gathered came from people.
I was attending a fashion school then and usually had a lot of discussions about Entrepreneurship with the proprietress of the school.
I told her I wanted to start sourcing luxury fabrics and she was certain about one thing: if I wanted good fabrics, I needed to go to China.
I had a talk with my husband and some of my friends, and they thought it made sense. We talked a bit more and she was kind enough to give me the contact of her agent.
When I called the agent, she told me the visa would cost ₦858,000!
I was stunned.
China ke? This expensive? Why? None of my visas had ever cost this much.
Before I could even process that, she added that the visa might take four or five months to be ready.
I wasn’t thrilled, but I paid anyway. I had already convinced myself that this was simply business start-up cost.
About two months later, she called me again.
Her contact in the Embassy had misplaced my passport, and they were searching for it.
I remember thinking immediately: Now I know God doesn’t want me to go to China.
My passport had my American, UK, and Schengen visas in it. Imagine losing that because of a sourcing trip to China.
I told her very calmly that if they didn’t find my passport, there would be serious problems for all of us.
Luckily, about a week later she called to say they had “found” it.
I raced to the embassy and snatched my passport from her contact, giving him a look of disdain.
My passport looked like it had been submerged in water. Luckily it didn’t affect any of the visas, and quietly I cancelled the China plan.
Instead, I packed my bags and headed to Dubai. I already had a visa since I had been there the month before for my birthday, so at least that part was easy.
The moment I stepped outside the Dubai Airport, the sun felt like it was sitting directly on my face. It was so bright it almost burned my eyes.I was shocked at the heat,it wasn’t that bad when I was there before.
But I had come all this way, so I went straight to work.
The problem was that I didn’t actually know where to start.
And so that first day after resting in my room, I walked up to the hotel reception with a silk scarf I had brought along.
I showed it to the staff and asked if anyone knew where I could find fabrics like this.
They pointed me in the direction of Deira, known for fabrics.
I went there the next day.
The market was busy, loud, and full of textiles, but something about it didn’t excite me. The fabrics didn’t feel like what I had imagined when I started this whole journey.
I kept looking.
The next day I tried again. Another market. More fabrics.
Still, nothing that made me feel like I had come to the right place.
By the end of the third day, I was already exhausted and really frustrated.
I remember sitting in my hotel room that evening thinking: maybe this whole trip was a mistake.
I had spent money. I had travelled all the way here. And yet nothing I had seen felt like the fabrics I wanted to build a business around.
By that night, I had already made up my mind.
I was going to cut the trip short and go home the next day.
But before leaving, I decided to go to the mall and buy myself something nice - at least whatever the weather, l can't lose all ways.
I got up the next morning and headed to Al Sofouh.
While sitting in the taxi, I noticed this huge glitzy shop - the word fabric from their signage caught my eye and I stopped the driver.
I got down and went into the shop. It was named Royalty. I will never forget it.
Ah. At last.
It had the richest silk varieties I had ever seen - all designer names, Emilio Pucci, Hermes - and the prices knocked the words from my mouth, my eyes watered a little.
The owner of the store explained to me they were 100% Silk and that's why they were that expensive.
There and then, he taught me the different ways of testing for pure silk and the different types of silk and how to identify them.
The air-conditioning was doing something to my brain.
Yes! That's what I'm talking about.
I pulled out my calculator and pen.
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