We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Doyin-Sola Ajijola. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Doyin-Sola below.

Doyin-Sola, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

When I was growing up, my mother always emphasized the importance of finding our identity and staying true to it. She allowed us to be fully expressive in our appearance, style, and personality, essentially giving us autonomy over our identity. She instilled the same morals and values she grew up with in us, such as being kind, fair, accepting, and honest, and allowed us to live the lives we wanted to live.

Since I was young, I knew that I wanted to take the creative route as a performer because I felt the most free when engaging and partaking in art pieces. My mother was always supportive of this and never once imposed what she believed I should do with my life on me. She gave me full control to go after what I wanted in life, with no judgment or criticism. The only rule she had was that I continued my education and did well in school.

My mother allowed me to follow my dreams without any hesitation as long as I kept my priorities straight. This is something I feel like my mother got right because I grew up embracing the creative career path I chose to take while maintaining my academics, which aided in my ability to guide myself as an artist from a business perspective.

Doyin-Sola, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As a child, I used to observe my mother sewing clothes for my family and friends. She had learned sewing as a trade in Nigeria before moving to the United States, where she learned to sew American styles as well. As a kid of a single low-income parent, I would follow my mom everywhere because we couldn’t afford childcare. Whenever she would sew clothes, I would either watch her or accompany her to get the materials she needed. This is where my interest in fashion began. Unknowingly, I was retaining all the information required to create an outfit from start to finish. I asked my mom to teach me in the 7th grade, and to our surprise, I knew the majority of the fundamentals of cutting fabric and working with a sewing machine. Although I never thought of starting a clothing brand at the time, I had always been interested in acting, which was my focus. I came to life and found joy in performing, and my mother always tells the story of how I pointed at the television screen and said, “I want to do this” as a kid. However, I still learned about fashion outside of sewing, such as fashion weeks, rollouts, fashion business, and more, because of my mother’s profession. It wasn’t until college that I decided to create my own sustainable clothing brand, Red Earth Denim (R.E.D.).

Like many people, my recent project started during COVID. With ample time on my hands, I decided to pursue hobbies that I had always put off. I began sketching more often, but it wasn’t until I searched for hand-painted graphic jeans and found that the cheapest pair was priced at $800 that I felt compelled to create my own. After painting my first design, which I later named “Lead or Follow” Jeans, I posted a picture of them on Instagram and was surprised to receive an influx of DMs from people asking me where I got them. When I told them that I made them myself, many of them asked if I could make a pair for them. This is when I realized that there was a demand for hand-painted denim jeans that weren’t going to break your bank account. I decided to start a clothing line and reached out to an industry professional from my network who advised me to start small in order to scale. I started with three hand-painted jean designs and two graphic shirts.

As I began to think about the kind of business I wanted to have, I realized that sustainability was an important value for me. I spent the next year learning about sustainable business practices in fashion and discovered upcycling, the process of taking old, discarded material and flipping it into something new. I would find discarded jeans, resize them, augment any discrepancies, and apply my artwork over them. I implemented this technique into all my denim pants, which helped me to create a sustainable and ethical brand.

It took me two years of research, trial and error before I officially launched Red Earth Denim. Today, we sell pants, shirts, accessories, and 1of1 pieces across all genders, all created ethically and sustainably. Our goal is to promote individuality and discourage mass consumption. At R.E.D., we believe in bringing back distinct personalities through our appearances and redefining shopping and style by analyzing how people interact with fashion and making it more eco-friendly.

I’m most proud of the community we’re building at R.E.D. Through virtual interactions and conversations, our customers uplift and encourage us as we discuss our shared passion for sustainability and fashion. As we grow as a company and brand, the future looks promising as R.E.D. is able to scale up while maintaining our core values.

Although I have been focused on my brand, I have not neglected my other passions. I consider myself to be a multi-faceted artist. I am actively working towards becoming an established actor/performer. Last summer I finished my acting training and graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Along the way of completing my college education, I picked up on modeling as well. I hope to be a part of exciting projects that end up on your screen soon. These are all endeavors that I hope to nourish and pursue in order to realize the dreams of younger Doyin.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

“The most effective way to support an artist is by listening and paying attention to what they require from their audience. It’s essential to recognize that their needs may differ, and many creatives simply desire to be acknowledged and appreciated. These aspects are vital in keeping artists inspired. Everyone deserves an opportunity to display their talents.”

How did you build your audience on social media?

We are constantly exploring new ways to expand Red Earth Denim’s social media presence and keep our followers engaged. We have found that regular posting on our social media accounts is key to maintaining engagement with our followers. To attract new followers, we have found that leveraging my personal network has been most effective. I am fortunate to have individuals in my circle who willingly modeled my clothes and posted the images on their social media accounts. This has helped to draw attention to my brand from real people who may not have been aware of my brand or me. Additionally, it is important to have a functional website linked to all social media accounts as this builds credibility and helps to attract new audiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: Theredenim.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/redearthdenim
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/doyin-ajijola-aa01501b8
• Other: My personal Instagram account: https://instagram.com/doy.n_

Image Credits
I swear (Music Teaser) -Ibi Han Link: https://youtu.be/8JV45QnIR-E?si=MTaFtScJgGd6qTq7