Hello, my name is Tega Akinola, and currently, I’m a final year student in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Aside from my studies, I like to get creative through designing and making things, which is mainly footwear and bags. After I graduate, I plan to turn that into a full-time endeavour.

Upcycling is something that has pretty much always been a necessity for me, particularly when I was younger, and before I knew of the actual term. What I love about upcycling is that, for me, there’s beauty in the imperfections. I don’t believe the piece has to be perfect, especially when starting out. A lot of them actually look good because they’re upcycled, and you can see the former stitching lines, and sort of work out which material came from where. I wouldn’t always have money to buy new clothes, so my mum (who has experience in designing and sewing) would encourage me to take my old clothes and do something new with them. However I didn’t purposefully decide to upcycle streetwear, it’s just that I like streetwear a lot, so I guess I make things that I would see myself potentially wearing. Nowadays, my inspiration tends to come from everywhere, but I love visual artists like Gab Bois, and I do try to keep up with fashion week shows.