My "Pitchersville Lagos" journey

MY "PITCHERSVILLE LAGOS" JOURNEY

This section of the blog is dedicated to writing about my journey from my university graduate days in University of Lagos, (Nigeria) back in 2007 to the shoe designer and company owner that I currently am today, in Lagos, Nigeria (2014). With this story, I hope to inspire others that have the same dreams that I did (whether they be in shoe design or anything else for that matter) and to thus show that where there is a will, there is always a way. I hope that you all enjoy my journey…..

I have always had grand aspirations. As a kid I wanted to be a professional Basket baller. It was my first dream. Nothing excited me more than being out on the court. But alas this was just a dream and nothing more. So when I realized that I was not good enough to become one and height was a major issue I had, I set out another goal and that was to one day own my very own Advertising and Branding Company (which I started in 2009) as creativity, in reality, is my first true love, far beyond that of my love for shoes. I actually was able to get a firm foot into the door of the Advertising industry when I got into Bates Cosse Advertising Company for my NYSC service year in 2011, but due to personal reasons and financial commitments was not able to finish up the internship that year.
I was terribly distraught from this and vowed to myself that the next goal that I would make, I would achieve it no matter what and never accept failure again. And this is where the story begins.
There comes a point in every graduate’s life where they need to ask themselves, “What am I going to do now that I have graduated?” Well that time came for me in the middle of 2011 precisely in July.  Not to take you off track too much but let me preface this by saying that I have always been a fan of dressing nice, as all through my youth, I bagged in different kinds of awards as a result of my style, my personality and my sense of modest, simple but creative dress sense.
In 2007, I competed in the Natonal level for the Silverbird’s event: Mr Nigeria World and won the award for the “Most Charming Mr Nigeria World 2007” courtesy Mr Oteri Agboro who believed so much in my person,  My University days got me awards of the “Mr Faculty Of Arts University of Lagos, Mr History and Strategic Studies University of Lagos, Face of  history and strategic studies, University of Lagos, Most dressed male, History and Strategic studies, Face of Faculty of Arts University of Lagos (much reference and appreciation to a few especially to my beau Nwoseujah Emmanuella who stood strong with me all through those years, a partner, a great inspiration, Arukwe Martins, my back bone and friend and Onyinye mystique my worthy best friend, my sweedy hardy...) all this awards
I won while I was a student in the University, my last award I won at National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) as the MTN’s Mr NYSC in 2011 dedicated to my mum " my rock of estimable  value".
Obviously when you are young, your taste is slightly different but nonetheless I have always made sure that what I was wearing was the “cool thing” at the time. Of course this has changed and now I just dress to what I consider stylish as opposed to following some trend that has an expiration date. So that being said let me get back to my big stepping point into reality.
I always told myself that a person is successful in life (in his career) if they love what they are doing every day whether or not they are making money. Now I know earlier I touched on dressing nice as my hobby but what I obviously left out was what really had a hold on me, ‘the shoes.’ unfortunately I still out of sheer ambitious plight mistook myself and started another company where I made clothing’s for people (Pitchersville couture, 2012) I waggled and struggled with this business for a year (2013) and though I loved my designs, I knew there was still something missing. So, I slowed it a bit, thought a little further and I realized that I might have loved to dress but what really held my passion was not the cloths I wore but the shoes that I matched the cloths with, alas it struck me, it wasn’t the cloths that gave me joy, passion and fulfillment but the shoes I wore with them. Thus started the plan for PITCHERSVILLE LAGOS a dress shoe line company.
In my mind, a good entrepreneur spends at least 5 years getting to know the industry they aspire to be in, before venturing off and starting their own project. With that in mind I made a goal. I told myself that in two years ( from 2013) I would apprentice for one of the top 5 best shoemakers in Nigeria learning how to design shoes by hand and the ideals of marketing them to prospective target audiences. I wanted to give myself two years so that I could continue working in the men’s shoe department, understand the business and more importantly, so that I could network and win other people that might be able to help me get to where I wanted to get to. That was April 2013.
Let’s fast forward to the 1st June of 2013. I met an ambitious young man who runs a Shoe Company called "St David’s Shoes", approached him and asked if I could help market his shoes to prospective clients, I was able to land that apprenticeship with the allowance of coming whenever I was able to. I decided that I would work the rest of the summer and see how far I have gone the next year June of 2014. This period truly started the relationship between me and shoes. Every day I got closer to shoes, understanding the craft, the business, the concepts of creations and details to craftsmanship.
To make a long story a lot shorter, I spent a total of 12 months in St David’s, understanding the craft and learning how to make shoes, repair shoes and more important than many people may think, learning how to polish shoes. I marketed a total of 27 pairs this entire time. With this downtime and exposure, I decided to create this blog to keep me close to my goals, to share my opinions on men’s shoes and most importantly to provide insight for those lacking it.
I have now only been in the shoes business for 12 months, sketch shoe designs so that at the end of this year I can complete my New Year’s resolution of having a portfolio done and 5-10 samples made. I will then be able to take those (and possibly more) to trade shows (Nigeria fashion shows, GTB fashion shows, Arise fashion shows etc) so that I can get my shoes into stores around the world!

Since I set off on this journey, I can say that it has been a tough one. Lots of trials and tribulations as well as loads of fun and exciting times. It has almost been 4 years since I graduated from university and PITCHERSVILLE LAGOS just a year old today(16th June 2014). A dream I supposed would have been 3years old already. I guess it took me a whooping two years of mistakes, wrong investments, understanding the marketing of shoe craftsmanship business and endless pains to get to the level I have attained. I have lost friends, got dumped by people I believed in, had empty promises, had sleepless, tearful frustrated nights and looking forward to hungry day time just so a dream could be well and equally reached. I learnt all through that impossible was nothing and with each blow on the door weakens it, thus someday a last strike of perseverance would bring it down. Still of course like every great business empire out there that has stood the best of time, PITCHERSVILLE LAGOS would still experience a great lot of challenges and hurdles, Nevertheless, this will not get me down, and all I can do is continue to do my best to progress and grow in bounds with every step the company takes and in every new day she wakes. I know that my end goal of making my shoe line a National brand and acceptance is almost here and I thank everyone that has been there following my adventure as well as being supportive. I only hope to provide inspiration for those who were in similar shoes (no pun intended) to myself when I graduated and was lost. If you have a dream, GO FOR IT, and never look back!

Kassim Tyler Babatunde C.E.O "Pitchersville Lagos."