The 24 Hour Tailor, Dare Aliu Story

I love fashion. I have been privileged to have many skills and talents not so many are known, and fashion is one of them. I particularly admite Nigeria's fashion industry and how they blend tradition and modern flair with unique excellent produced pieces. 

Listening to my usual podcasts and learning from people I admire and would want to be like, or better and are ahead, I was listening to this podcast by business mogul Dare Aliu (TDA) on Morayo Afolabi Brown. Dare Aliu, who is an engineer by profession and a tailor today, is a fashion designer and tailor of clothes. founded in 2018. His brand is known for Luxury menswear particularly agbada and kaftan designs.Aliu commitment to quality cratfmanship and his innovative approach to traditional nigeria attire has earned him recognition as a fashion entrepreneur.In 2025 he was awarded the prestigious African Fashion Designer's Award as Fashion Entrepreneur of the year highlighting his influence and growing international impact of his brand. Aliu's work continues to redefine the narrative of African Fashion, merging craftmanship, cultural richness and contemporary elegance.

I like drafting people's stories into write-ups because I love reading and writing better than listening.

The businessman has had experience in engineering. He said the only reason he was qualified to sit on the Morayo Afrolab Brown is because he was able to do something differently.

I ask, what sets you apart?

The only thing you will do if you want to make money in life is add value. Ask yourself, what value are you adding by what you are doing? He filled a problem with a universal problem we have of all tailors, they don't deliver on time.

Again, whatever you are doing or are set out to pursue, what problem are you solving?

He took up the problem of delivering on time.

He says school is important. Yes, there are many tailors, but there are things they are not doing. Any business is a business, but what sets your business apart? E.g., for him, it was structure and speed od delivery. Structure brings creativity and profits. So he went ahead and decided to solve that problem.

What do you do differently that makes you stand out?

Pick something that makes you different.

Dare says he used to be recommended for the clothes he wears. He set out to borrow money from friends. By then, he had built integrity with people, and he says sometimes you have to use other people's money to make money. So you can't give an excuse that you don't have money but also for accountability.

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I question this because for you to be able to borrow this money, you have to have networks of friends that can assist you in getting the money you want. The saying, who are your friends or associates?

I have been in a situation where you want help, and you have friends that can or could help if they were able. But they can't because they don't have that sort of cash.

Associations also matter.

Here, I would also recommend having different segments or cohorts is also important. Friends who you can hang out together with are your ride or die and don't have maybe too much capacity, and others who have the money and associations that are purely business-related, etc.

He borrowed money not because he didn't have money but because he wanted to put himself under a little bit of pressure. He borrowed $200,000 and started the business, delivering orders within 24 hours. That's total madness in tailoring, but that was his promise to his clients and his positioning.

What is your USP?

What is your positioning?

In a crowded market?

What is your uniqueness?

By the time you deliver for one person, two people, word spreads, and the best form and number one form of advertising is word of mouth.

People are so used to bad service, so when you get good service, you want to share.

When you get a good product, you want to share.

So word spread, and before he knew it, within four months he had to hire two tailors, and by the fifth month he had to leave that store with three tailors to get a bigger place where he hired 11 tailors.

He was asked whether it was the circle of friends he had or the environment he grew up in that gave him good customers.

He said there are things he had built in the past that gave him integrity when he needed the help.

You can have 1 million friends or people who don't believe in you because of integrity or if you haven't done anything before. That's a crowd.

He had people around him that he showed up for. E.g., you have a child, I show up; a wedding, I show up. He showed up for others, and when his turn came, they showed up for him.

Who owes you?

Who do you owe?

What have you done for others to show up for you when you need them?

That's building equity.

It was not a circle of friends but people whom he had poured himself into, and now it was time for him to receive from. Pour out to people.

He was asked, how long did he take to build the business from scratch to where he thought he had made it? How many years was the waiting period?

And he acknowledged by saying the interviewer asked amazing questions.

He asked back to the audience and the interviewer, what does success mean to people?

To some, 1B. Others, 2B.

But to him, just like me, I believe success is freedom.

I can't say that loud enough.

Being able to wake up when I choose to wake up. Choosing who I choose to talk to when I want to. Going where I want to when I want. E.g., as I write this, a friend has a dad's burial, and I can't go because I will be working, and my leave will not be approved because I was away just the other day.

Success is doing what I choose to do when I want to.

His business that started with one tailor is big enough to feed his children and the next generation.

He adds:

The only time he felt successful is when he was able to leave his business for 30 days and nothing broke.

Going back memory lane,

Getting good clothes on time and affordable was his unique positioning.

What is your positioning?

I ask again.

He was also a nice person, so when you engaged with him, he also wanted you to leave better than when you met.

He made his clients feel they matter.

When he got into the bigger space, within a year the space was bursting out of the seams, meaning the place had become smaller, and clients would come in not knowing he was the owner.

As much as bad news spreads, good news also spreads faster. By the time he was one year in, having paid rent for two years, he knew it was time to leave for a bigger place. He still had his 9 to 5 even as his business was growing, and fast.

As he grew and became the CEO of his business.

He advises: The first job of a CEO is hiring right.

HR, listen.

Spot the right talent, but also attitude can be taught, the right attitude. At this time, he felt he needed to leave his 9 to 5. The business needed him. He had conviction, and he went ahead and took a bigger space that he could not even afford.

At this point, they jump to his foundation that he started for widows.

He narrates how he lost his dad at 2 years old, and his mum was left alone and acknowledges his life to the grace of God.

He saw how the mum struggled.

At every point in time, God raised helpers, and sometimes the helpers were not doing too much. At some point, they had a man who was in his mum's church. He had passed on, though, by the time of this interview. And he gave the mum kerosene to sell so it could feed them. They were five kids. That, to him, was a big deal.

God raises helpers.

When he saw that, he asked God to help him get money to help widows the same way the man did. When his business grew, he started a foundation, and they currently have 100 widows he takes care of consistently.

Looking at Dare's foundation, sometimes when doing something or fulfilling purpose, ask God what He can do and make it easy for Him to bless you. For him, he told God, give me money and I will also help the widows.

What's your why?

He continued to emphasise the importance of school.

Even the billionaires did not finish school, some of them, but they did a bit of school, and some are successful because the people making them are well schooled.

What you learn in school is not ABCD.

It's time management, people management, accountability, responsibility, discipline, communication, relationship building, obedience, etc.

He emphasises:

What education gives you is accountability.

The next question is about structure and how he delivers his clients' orders in 24 hours.

And he responds by saying this is a masterclass.

He starts by saying everything in life has principles.

Money has principles.

Sell something that has value.

Believe in mentorship, and that's why I always listen to people who have gone ahead of me.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

What are they doing?

How are they doing it?

What is your USP?

Ask yourself that.

What makes you stand out?

What would make someone spend money on you, take time on you, come to your shop and not the other shop? Engage with your content if on social.

For him, he sat with himself. Don't sit with TV and seek people's opinions. Sit with yourself and ask yourself and answer yourself.

What is it that will set you apart?

For him, he picked time and speed of delivery.

Why?

Because speed is the only non-subjective factor.

E.g., one hour in the US, Kenya, or Lagos is the same one hour anywhere.

If he picked quality, it would only have a geometric progression, and also he didn't know how to sew. And he knew he couldn't get it right from day one. He would have to learn from his mistakes. All he had was an eye for detail and good stuff. He was educated enough to gather the best talents in people that can sew and bring them together in a room with people that need their products, connect them and join them, making sure the tailors are paid well, paid on time, and the people who are coming to the space experience great service that is timely and efficient.

The people coming to spend money are also spending on convenience in the right environment and a comfortable place.

That is structure.

He has grown into different cities in Nigeria, and when you walk into any of his spaces, it's like a bank. His businesses have four sales reps, a procurement manager, COO, and factory officers, etc. By the time an outfit comes out, it's touched by at least 10 people. One outfit. The cutter, the person who irons, stitches, and does quality control are all different people, all cut out for their different skills and roles. The person who will measure, package, and give the client the outfit are all different.

But he didn't start like that.

He says you must have people that run with your dream.

Your job as CEO and founder is not to work in the business but on the business.

Your job as founder and CEO is to hire right and let other people run faster than you. If you sell your dream well, people will run faster than you. Pay your people well. Pay them on time.

An average tailor in his tailoring business earns more than an average banker, and he has more than 60 tailors. He repeats he didn't start like that. He takes us back to where he started and says the people that started with him are still in the business by making them feel they are growing and a part of the dream. When he buys cars for his managers who have grown in those roles with him, it's rewarding and recognising loyalty.

He adds you need to sit with your unique selling point.

Choose what will set you apart, and that's what positions you. If in fashion, are you quality-focused? Fancy-centred? Professional? Retail? Wholesale? Bespoke? Funky? etc.

The businessman is birthing new things around travelling around. He has just opened in Tanzania. He still sources fabric himself and is travelling all over Dubai, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, and beyond.

He says you cannot feature in a future you don't picture.

You have to picture that place.

Walk from answer to question.

Walk backwards.

He's travelling a lot lately because he doesn't need to be in the business that much anymore.

The business is driving itself.

He's showing up for his friends.

He tries to rest.

But insists you must do the hard work.

He made a very controversial statement that in most homes, people who watch TV and sleep the most are normally the poorest.

He doesn't watch TV.

He will watch series that he learns from.

He says time is of the essence.

He is asked about his wife as the show ends.

When he married the wife, he didn't have 2M in his account. Everybody wants a ready-made man. He says they met 10–12 years ago while he was working in one of the engineering companies, and there was something different about her. She was a lawyer, beautiful, and he just felt some peace with her. They got married. The wife is still a lawyer and also a businessperson with jewellery businesses in his businesses. Every time he is growing, they are growing together.

His advice to men, as we celebrate men in June, as someone many men would want to be where he is:

First, well done to all men.

A lot of men are trying.

As much as the environment is not enabling, God will see them through.

Dear men, it's okay to cry.

Speak to your fellow brothers, wives, sisters.

Don't bottle everything in.

And finally, let's make women feel safer.

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The biggest lesson I took from this conversation is simple:

Do something differently.

In a crowded market, add value.

Solve a problem.

Build integrity.

Show up for people.

Create structure.

Know your positioning.

Develop your uniqueness.

And never stop asking yourself:

What is it that makes me stand out?

What problem am I solving?

What am I doing differently?

*"The market rarely rewards those who do what everyone else is doing. Distinction comes from solving problems differently, serving people better, and showing up consistently when others won't. Find your difference. Build on it. Let the world remember you for it."*

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**MN Collective Insights Unfiltered**

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