Circularity, African Textiles and Building Clearly Invincible with Sessi K
SESSI K
“I believe the fashion industry needs more circularity. Circularity in the way education is shared and circularity in the way the entire ecosystem operates.”
Sessi K is on a mission to build a one-stop hub for fashion entrepreneurs. A consultant and founder based between Paris and Lagos, she shaped Clearly Invincible into what it is now to close a gap she kept running into: the lack of solid business support for African fashion entrepreneurs and the thin media infrastructure around them. The project began in apparel, moved into business services, and now reaches into media. This portrait follows how she reads the industry beyond the finished garment, why she believes circularity has to run through education and the industry as a whole, and the textile archive she is building.
HER CRAFT
Identifying the gap in fashion business services for African fashion entrepreneurs
Could you tell us what you do and why it matters to you?
I'm a fashion consultant and I run the fashion media and services agency Clearly Invincible. I'd identified a gap in fashion business services for fashion entrepreneurs and in African fashion media. The rest was intuition.
I'm driven by the belief that the fashion industry needs more circularity. Circularity in the way education is shared, and circularity in the way the entire ecosystem operates.
How has your business evolved since the early beginnings?
The brand has evolved from apparel to business services and now media. There's been a major shift in audience along the way, but the current audience resonates with both the services and the media side.
Any recent work highlight?
My documentary on textile manufacturing in Nigeria and a trend report I built around the Lagos Fashion Season 2025.
Sessi K preparing a workshop for fbrands and designer
Clearly Invincible’s Lagos Fashion Season 2025 trend report available here
HER LESSONS
On partnership and valuing your work
What major hurdles are you facing in your work?
Doing things together is better. Organisations need to partner up. I haven't fully overcome this one, to be honest, the trust isn't always there yet, but I believe in it.
A recent lesson that changed the way you operate?
Nothing is free.
A habit you are trying to build in your work?
Rest.
HER ENERGY
In the quiet: people, pauses and prayer
Sessi K dans un moment de calme, en voyage
What do you enjoy most in your work?
Speaking to people.
What keeps you going?
Hope.
How do you stay inspired and nurture your creativity?
Pausing.
Where do you find sanctuary in challenging times?
Isolation and speaking to God.
HER COMMUNITY
Building community in African fashion and the trust still missing from it
“I feel like communities are developing, including the one I’m building with Clearly Invincible. But I also feel there isn’t enough trust between people in the industry yet. On a personal level, though, there are people I look up to and get advice from, because they’re incredibly knowledgeable and they inspire me.”
African Fashion Files project co-lead by Sessi K and Tiyamike Dingilesi
HER PERSPECTIVE
Archiving African textile history and what the industry keeps overlooking
Any specific industry topic you've been digging into lately?
Archiving. Ambitiously, maybe unrealistically, I want to get back to the very beginning of African textile practices. I've been investing in and studying certain books, and listening to people like Khensani Mohlatlole. I even started African Fashion Files with a friend, Tiyamike Dingilesi.
What are some current challenges and opportunities you see in the global African fashion ecosystem?
Inadequate data, poor media infrastructure, and a general lack of understanding that fashion goes far beyond the finished products we see on the runway. Everything beyond the actual apparel needs to be fostered and paid attention to as well.
What avenues could better bridge the gap between independent designers and makers on the continent and global audiences?
More awareness, built through genuine conversations that lead to actionable steps.
Sessi K presenting her collective archiving project The Archive Room, co-hosted with creatives lanaire aderemi and Chidumaga Uzoma Orji
Sessi K presenting her documentary on the Nigerian textile industry at The Archive Room event in London
ON HER RADAR
African textiles, Christie Brown eyewear and LVMH Prize
What are you curious about at the moment?
African textiles. That's been the landmark of my curiosity for some years now.
What fashion event or news got you excited recently?
Pith Africa heading into Europe, Christie Brown expanding into eyewear, which is old news but still exciting, Torlowei collaborating with artists, and IAMISIGO and Yoshita 1967 at LVMH Prize.
“Inadequate data, poor media infrastructure, and a general lack of understanding that fashion goes far beyond the finished products we see on the runway. Everything beyond the actual apparel needs to be fostered and paid attention to as well.”
HER STYLE
A scarf, Clearly Invincible following and a love letter to Torlowei
Sessi K at an Air Afrique pop-up event in Paris
Your wardrobe essential?
A scarf. I can do so much with a scarf.
Your go-to destination to discover brands from Africa and the diaspora?
The Clearly Invincible Instagram. We basically follow any African brand we come across, some from the diaspora too, and use the page as a living catalogue of African brands and founders. I also like @de_mode_journaliste, because that's where I discover South African brands.
A brand you have discovered recently?
Torlowei: I mean, I'm a woman, what else can I say. Tolu Coker, whose graduate collection shaped a lot of my design language as a teenager, so watching the brand evolve holds real sentimental value. Seta the Label, because they're just so fun. Tiffany Amber. And Kkerelé.
Specific pieces you have your eyes on?
The entire Torlowei catalogue. Tiffany Amber archives, roughly 2010 to 2016, because I was too young to afford it then. Kelly Praise earrings. And Kkerelé, always. I always have my eye on Kkerelé.
THE EDIT, INSPIRED BY HER
TOLU COKER x TOPSHOP cinched 80s blazer in taupe
KKERELÉ Lee Sandals
TORLOWEI Michelle Slipdress
SETA THE LABEL Coral Maxi Illusion Dress
PITH Petal Tank Pink
KELLY PRAISE Trio Beaded Ear Cuff
What runs through Sessi K's work is an obsession to dig deeper. She is most interested in the layers less documented, the business support, the missing data, the textile histories, and her belief in circularity extends to knowledge itself, not just materials. To her, the industry value has to be recognised, paid for and protected, especially the value held in African crafts and its archive.
Find Sessi K’s work on Instagram at @clearlyinvincible and @sessi.sanaa.k.
Read our previous portrait with Frida Nakarma Lidbom on documenting how local ghanaian traders are combating fashion’s waste colonialism, and subscribe to the NDAANE newsletter to stay across the conversations in the series.