"Everything goes back to where we're from, African kids from Nigeria"

Lagos is known for many things, globally, it’s a music hotspot, but it's increasingly becoming a place synonymous with a new style of streetwear. Enter Severe Nature. Founded by three friends at school in 2012, Christopher Afolabi, Tobi Adeleye, and the late Michael Atobalele, Severe Nature is now one of the most well known and beloved streetwear brands in the region.

Its roots are culturally embedded, be it collaborating motorsports, football or by sponsoring BMX events, jam sessions, and initiatives like My Nature which offer an opportunity for up-and-coming artists to showcase their work, and now today, they’re slowly and steadily making their presence known globally and have over the past 12 months created multiple stores across Europe including Paris and London, as well as the UAE in Dubai.

We caught up with Lionel Edem, Head of Business Operations, in their latest London store to talk about steady growth, their plans to become a household name and how physical experience is the way to connect to youth culture - no matter where you are in the world.

AH: Talk to us about the conception of Severe Nature.

Lionel: Severe Nature was born from the idea of collaboration and staying true to oneself—being authentic to your nature. We’re a collective of creatives from diverse backgrounds, and that mix of perspectives drives everything we do. People often ask how we're able to operate in so many places and take on so many projects, and the answer is our incredible team.

This collaborative spirit is the foundation of the brand, and it’s what pushes us to build and support a strong community around us.

AH: The brand launched in 2012 in Lagos, Nigeria. Why did you feel like that moment was a good moment to start the brand? Was it because you saw that the fashion industry was lacking something?

Lionel: Starting Severe Nature in 2012 came naturally as a group of young, school-going African kids who hadn’t fully seen the world yet. At the time, streetwear from Africa wasn’t widely present; the continent was known more for high fashion women’s brands or men’s formalwear. We were deeply influenced by our exposure to MTV, hip hop culture, and music videos, which played a big role in shaping our identities and what we wanted to express.

Moving between Nigeria, the UK, and Canada, clothing became our outlet, a way to capture our unique experiences and perspectives. It wasn’t about filling a gap in the market as much as it was about carving out a space to reflect who we were.

We started off just really having fun with it and then it grew into what we have now.

AH: Graphic design and pops of color is a huge part of your brand - how and why?

Lionel: There's a certain aesthetic when you go to places around Africa, and it's usually really colourful and graphic. From our perspective growing up, we were around all these things and it's just where we're from. We express ourselves through a lot of color, through a lot of patterns, traditional wear is usually made of print.

So, in terms of graphic design, we have a creative director. I manage the brand, he was more adept with design in terms of graphic design, illustration and we just felt that would be the best way to capture the essence of what we are on a piece of clothing.

AH: Many collections feel distinct, you’ve been influenced by BMX culture and football, why is this such a core part of Severe Nature’s identity?

Lionel: I think everything boils back down to where we're from. As African kids from Nigeria, sports is a huge part of our culture. Most of what you see here [within this space] is because we have such a rich cultural background.

The racer theme is because our most recent collection was a motorsport collection, which is why some of the pieces here look like they're race inspired, but we work with creative people across different backgrounds, be it music or sports, we're able to kind of tap into these different walks of life.

I guess it's just having fun with these different elements and just kind of interpreting them into our own version, so that when you have these pieces on, it encourages you to be the most authentic version of yourself.

AH: Not many brands celebrate turning 10 years old. What would you say is the reason why you've managed to keep yourselves in a steady pace of growth and managed to start expanding into Europe and even Dubai?

Lionel: To be fair, It's been a long journey. It's been really tough. I think really and truly I put that growth down to the team we've been able to put together. We internalize a lot of the aspects of the business, so we don't necessarily have to depend on external factors. When it comes to design we have a design team and same for content creation, photographers, videographers. People that have interest in those specific things. We are simply very self-sufficient. I see the team that we have and also the community that we've been able to build over the years.

I think that's one thing that has helped in terms of us being existing for as long as we've done, right? We have people that have known us since they were in uni and now they are grown up and married, probably with kids and stuff like that. So it's just constantly evolving and constantly growing whilst being able to still capture that essence of why we started the brand.

AH: You do tap into youth culture heavily though?

Lionel: For sure, we do a lot of stuff for our youth as well. So it's I would say the team and just constantly building and providing for our community.

Engaging with youth culture is a core part of what we do. Our team is always focused on building and giving back to our community, creating spaces and opportunities that resonate with young people. We're constantly evolving to support and empower the next generation through our work.

AH: You’ve done a lot of pop-up stores now - why are these so integral to your brand?

Lionel: We're a very experiential brand. So with a lot of things that we do we like to give people a feeling. We could have just decided to do content and have a website but we understand that there's a different feeling that people get when they come and feel the clothing, and see a space you are within, it's different when you can engage with the brand directly.

I feel like that's one of our strengths. We opened a store in Lagos which is our first flagship store, it's been about four years now. We've given people the space where kids can come in and just hang out and express themselves.

We have tools available for them too, they can learn how to do some of these things like content and making. For us growing up, there weren't really a lot of people that were doing what we're doing now, so I feel like there's older people that have grown up with us from inception, but then we're also kind of paving the way for much younger people to be able to grow too, they have space to exist. And I guess they can be a part of something.

AH: You’ve built multiple pop-ups, what's the enjoyment of it?

Lionel: It's all about the experience. It's all about being able to expand your community. Last year we made a commitment to try and pop up in more international spaces. So we had a pop-up in London, Paris for fashion week, we were in Barcelona and then we ended the year in Dubai.

But in all these locations, we weren't like standalone. For Paris and fashion week, we partnered with a friend of ours. He has a magazine called New Currency. He's also kind of doing something similar to what we do, but his own expression of it is through digital print and actual physical magazines. So, we partnered up with him for Paris fashion week to get different communities together.

When we were in Barcelona, we partnered up with a collective out there called Voodoo Club. They're also a bunch of Nigerian kids trying to express themselves within a certain type of way, they're an agency, they host parties quite frequently in Barcelona. So what we did was had the pop-up with them, got them to bring their community to experience. They have a diverse community, but they also have an African community.

It was a really good way for us to experience different environments and different communities within those environments. We have an African brand, but I don't think we speak only to African people. We are a lot more universal.

AH: How come for this space in London you have taken it just for yourselves?

Lionel: The concept for this London space is centered around our 'Office Hours' initiative. While we're not directly collaborating with other brands here, the space is open to a community of creatives to come in, create content, and make the space their own. It's really about providing a platform where people can engage with the brand and explore their own ideas. We're still in an experimental phase, figuring out what resonates best, and this approach lets us connect in a unique, hands-on way.

AH: What is the next 10 years for Severe Nature?

Lionel: In the next 10 years, we aim to establish Severe Nature on the global stage. We're a group of kids from Africa, and we know that breaking through internationally isn’t easy—few African brands have managed to make it on that level. But our goal is to continue to build the brand into one of those standout brands that can represent Africa globally.
Right now, African culture, especially through music, is at the forefront worldwide. For us, it’s about expanding that narrative and showing that Africa has even more to offer. We want to be part of the movement that highlights Africa's creativity and depth, beyond just music, to showcase our culture through fashion in a meaningful way.

AH: Do you plan to create more flagship stores?

Lionel: We’d love to establish flagship stores in all the major cities around the world. That's why we prioritized traveling and creating experiences in these cities, as we did with our pop-ups last year. Having a physical presence is crucial; any brand aiming for global recognition must be accessible in key cities worldwide. Creating dedicated spaces for Severe Nature is definitely a goal we are excited about, and it's something we are actively working towards as we grow.

AH: Before you go, what three things create a perfect store?

Lionel: First and foremost, from my experience, the community that you have around, what you create and the spirit of the brand. I think those are the things that we've been able to embody over the years and people are able to identify with. It’s helped us get to where we are now. Always being authentic.