Tottenham fashion designer ambitious after opening first store

by Tim Lamden Tuesday, August 21, 2012
11:00 AM

A young Tottenham fashion designer is hoping to take his brand nationwide after opening his first store.

Emeka Oparah, 21, of Philip Lane, South Tottenham, set up Doccia Apparel with friend Derek Nyarko, 22, of Northumberland Park - launching a website for the clothing line last year.

Following the success of the site, the pair raised enough money to open their first store in Camden’s Stables Market last month.

Emeka, set to start his third year of study for a degree in business management at Nottingham Trent University next month, said: “We want our online store to become massive, we want to go around the country. We have got stores outside London that are already contacting us.”

The new store is open seven-days-a-week from 11am to 6pm and, between the two of them, Emeka and Derek share the running of the business with three others.

Tracing the origin of the brand’s name, Emeka explained: “We looked in the dictionary and found this word which means showering and to be clean.

“We saw it in French, Italian and Spanish dictionaries but our interpretation of it is to be fresh.”

Before the business took off, Emeka described how he and Derek were warned it would never work which in turn gave them more motivation.

He added: “We go by the motto ‘freedom to be who I am, desire to be what I must’ and that came about from that incident where we were told ‘this won’t work’. We knew if we worked hard enough then things wouldn’t fail.”

If you wish to check out Doccia Apparel online, visit www.docciaapparel.co.uk.