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The Research

Fashion & Culture Research

Nifemi Adeleye, Fashion Researcher

I study how fashion brands build community and belonging. My research looks at how brand stories, retail spaces and live experiences shape the way people connect with a brand, and at what clothing means to the people who wear it: the identity, culture and heritage a garment carries, and how the places where we shop and dress shape those choices. My focus is African and diaspora fashion brands and the communities who wear them.

Nifemi Adeleye, fashion researcher
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Research focus

  • Brand community formation
  • Experiential marketing and retail
  • Consumer identification and belonging
  • The symbolic meaning of dress
  • Consumption settings
  • Dress, identity and cultural heritage
  • African and diaspora fashion
Latest writing

Follow my Substack

New articles on fashion, culture and brand community, published as they are written.

Follow on Substack
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Ways to work with me

Research Insights & Contributions

Expert insight and written contributions on fashion consumers, brand community and African and diaspora fashion, for publications, reports and industry research.

Guest Lectures & Workshops

Lectures and hands-on workshops for universities, fellowships and industry groups on fashion marketing, brand storytelling and cultural sustainability.

Mentorship

One-on-one mentorship for designers and creatives building well-positioned, sustainable fashion careers.

Fashion Program Development

Program design and cultural management for institutions and retailers building fashion showcases, retail programs, education series and designer development initiatives.

Marketing Culturally Rooted Brands

Practical tools, frameworks and ethical guidelines for marketing brands rooted in culture and heritage, drawn from my research and client work.

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Research and publications

Fashion Researcher, CIAFE

Accra, Ghana · 2023 to 2024

What it was

Research and course design with the Council for International African Fashion Education and its Journal for African and Diaspora Fashion.

Who it was for

Scholars, educators and post-secondary institutions teaching African and diaspora fashion.

What I did

Co-led research and design of the public course The History of African Fashion and Diaspora, with case studies on the African fashion ecosystem, marketing and cross-cultural business strategy.

Published peer-reviewed research in The Journal for African and Diaspora Fashion (2023).

Wrote Module 10, History of Jewellery and Accessories in Africa and the Diaspora, for the CIAFE introductory course.

  • Sustainable Business Research Analyst Assistant

    University of Lethbridge

    May to September 2023

    Assisted Professor Eunjoo Koo's research on sustainability, social entrepreneurship and inclusion, including fieldwork with fair trade non-profit Villages Calgary.

  • Research Production Assistant

    Global Fashion Agenda, Denmark

    June 2023

    Mitacs-funded research on socially responsible fashion communication, which led to the founding of the Sunday Refocus podcast.

Publications

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Lectures, panels and workshops

Gallery

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Lectures, panels and workshops
Lectures, panels and workshops
Lectures, panels and workshops
Lectures, panels and workshops
Lectures, panels and workshops
Lectures, panels and workshops

Speaker, moderator or facilitator at 40+ lectures, panels and workshops, including:

  • 2026Moderator, "Art's Role in Community & Social Impact," Edmonton Art Crawl. Panel with Anand Pye (Edmonton Mural Festival), Kim Fjordbotten (ArtWalk), Darren W. Jordan (5 Arts 1 Love) and Colin Campbell (CIVIQ Labs), followed by an audience workshop.
  • 2026Expert Facilitator, Sustainable Fashion Foundations Fellowship, UP Network, Nigeria. Led the session "Cultural Storytelling as a Bridge to Cultural Sustainability in Fashion."
  • 2026Expert Consultant, Startup Fashion Week. One-on-one sessions with Canadian fashion designers.
  • 2025Moderator, Creative Showroom panel series, Edmonton. "Design as Storytelling" with Maria Augusta Wozniak, Matthew Lawrence and Glen Ronald, and "The Future of Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship" with Lianne Charlene (Chapter 35), Jordon Hon (Be My Guest) and Deji Adeleye (Goldman Adele).
  • 2025Facilitator, Digital Marketing & Storytelling Workshop, Indigenous Tourism Alberta, for rural and Indigenous tourism operators.
  • 2023Guest Lecturer, Lehman College (CUNY), New York. Virtual lecture for LEH 250 on navigating fashion research, academia and creative networks.
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Institutions I've worked with

Council for International African Fashion Education (CIAFE) · Global Fashion Agenda · CUNY Lehman College · UP Network · Fashion Takes Action · University of Lethbridge

Invite me to speak or collaborate.