L’Espace Boss And Wana Sambo @War

AMFW 2012 Streetstyle: Errr not quite, Photo of L’Espace
Owners Doing the ‘Rock & Re-Sell’

….According to L’Espace

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Victoria Island, Lagos – March
29th, 2012 Addressing the various allegations and claims made by Terence Sambo
of @OneNigerianBoy tonight, the L’Espace team is simultaneously shocked and
saddened to hear that anyone feels this way and we assume this is based on a
recent miscommunication with his designer sister of WSClothing Co. First off,
we’d like to clear up a few things. On bearing zero risk – Millions of naira in
initial investment is very far from being zero risk. Anyone who runs an SME in
this particularly hostile environment, would beg to differ, and perhaps even
take offence at this cavalier attitude towards the risk any entrepreneur takes.
And ironically, the commission actually gives us MORE of an onus to sell, simply
because if we don’t sell. We make nothing. The fee is nominal at best. On stock
– We require SIX pieces minimum. Whatever the designer decides to do upward of
that is his/her decision. And to be precise, the store is 670 sqm in total.
Abuse is a very strong term and as one of the core L’Espace team is a designer
herself, we find it irresponsible that this word (which conjures up images of
slavery and child labor) is being used in this context at all. On ‘ridiculous
demands’ ….. At every point we try to involve our vendors in the process and
attempt to be as flexible as we can. The rate we are asking plus commission is
paltry and whilst it might seem monumental at first, designers NEED to break out
of the cycle of ‘spend the cash flow’and living from order to order. Until you
can produce and distribute at a certain level you will NEVER grow. On wannabe
stylists …. It is clearly communicated to designers when their stuff is being
used for an outside shoot or pulled by an outside stylist. However, when it is
used for in-house content creation we assume notice is not necessary unless
otherwise stated, simply because we are already liable for damage etc by
default. For the record, we have worked with many ‘non-wannabe’ stylists
Veronica Ebie-Odeka of Vane Style, Bolaji Animashaun, Lucy Love and Funmi SMD to
name a few. On the following tweet most irritated by is dat they’re running d
biz like dem guys in suits. Dere shld more soul since one of d owners is a
designer 2 we will not be commenting because we feel it is unprofessional and
the opinion of the blogger/tweeter, however misguided, is his own. In general …
L’Espace is a 3 month old business with huge running costs. The initial business
idea was based on the premise that most young, up and coming designers cannot
afford the high rent and maintenance costs of a space like ours, hence the
cooperative competition model. Unfortunately, should a designer be unable to
cover the 50k+ sum plus commission, that is an indication that perhaps, the
business is not quite ready to go past the incubator stage yet. Lastly, we are a
growing business and try our very best to find a business model that works for
all parties and will help our industry grow from where it really matters –
commerce. We changed it a little to be more accommodating and we have been
pleased with the results so far. We are understandably distraught that
WSClothing Co will be leaving us momentarily; we wish you the best of luck going
forward. L’Espace by LPM Team

…..Then a press release by
OneNigerianBoy

Wana Sambo Clothing Responds to L’Espace
Allegations

“On the 15th of Feb, 2012, Wana Sambo Clothing, a Women’s
wear brand, received an e-mail from L’espace, a multi-brand concept store/retail
outlet located in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, inviting Wana Sambo Clothing
to retail at their store through a new revenue model they were
testing.

On the 22nd of February, an agreement was entered stating
Wana Sambo Clothing was to pay the following to be a part of
L’espace:

a) N50,000 as monthly rent

b) N15,000 as monthly service charge

c) Choose from either a 3 months or 6 months upfront
payment option

Wana Sambo Clothing chose the 3months upfront option and
paid the sum of N195,000 on the 1st of march, 2012.

Wana Sambo clothing started retailing at L’espace 15th of
March and on the 17th of March 2012, a sales report ending 17th of March 2012
was sent to Wana Sambo Clothing with a total of sales for that
week.

By the 28th of March, Wana Sambo Clothing received a 2nd
sales report ending the 24th of march and it stated the amount of sales made
that week with a new term added to it: a 20% commission being taken off sales.
Also attached to that e-mail was an amended version of the first invoice WSC
received which now had the total sales plus a 20% commission taken off it. This
meant that a 20% commission would be deducted weekly. Once this e-mail was
received, Wana Sambo contacted L’espace to query this new term/development as
this had never been stated in any of our written or verbal agreements and
L’espace replied saying (a quote from the e-mail) “…the 20% commission was not
included in the agreement because we are still testing the new revenue model…” I
asked them to put a hold to any payments into my bank account from sales until I
get back into the country, as they were aware I was away for a period of time.
L’espace replied me the next day with a contract termination notice, making
mention of their assumptions that One Nigerian Boy, a fashion blogger, who is
also my brother, was sanctioned by my brand to launch a “guerilla attack”
against them on twitter.

First of all, It was not stated by L’espace at any point
that I would be paying a 20% WEEKLY commission on sales after my rent and
service charge had been paid in full. I run my studio at No 11 Augustine Anozie
street, Lekki Phase 1, Nigeria, agreeing to retail at L’espace was a way of
giving clientele another point of purchase and it seemed a smart way to push for
the growth my business.

I would like to make clear that I, Wana Sambo of Wana Sambo
Clothing can not influence the topic of Fashion Blogger(s) either as a sister or
as a designer in the Nigerian Fashion Industry. Terence Sambo of ONB is a
Fashion Blogger and he is within his rights to discuss whatever issues
concerning/affecting the fashion industry as he pleases, I cannot ask him to not
do his job neither can I tell him how to do it. Mentioning the Wana Sambo brand
in a press release about his tweets when he clearly made no mention of Wana
Sambo Clothing as the source of his information, simply because he is my brother
was most unprofessional.

In reference to a portion of their press release, L’espace
attempted to slander the Wana Sambo brand, making all sorts of insinuations
about the brand’s financial strength and moneys already paid to
them.

L’espace publicly terminated our contract without facts and
without giving notice based on the terms of the agreement by both parties. Wana
Sambo Clothing has upheld every part of the agreement and L’espace has no right
to terminate the contract. L’espace on the other hand has constantly violated
the terms of the contract agreement by firstly taking a 20% commission from WSC
sales without prior notice, secondly on the same day sending an e-mail saying
“Your stock will be taken off the shop floor at 11am today” and “we are more
than happy to terminate.” (Please note that I received this e-mail after they
had already issued out a press release.)

I sent L’espace an e-mail asking them to take down the
press release as it was wrongly aimed but they still have not up until now, 30th
March, 2012 at 1:53am. Wana Sambo Clothing has also not gotten a reply to the
e-mail sent to L’espace addressing this issue.

ONB Comment: Clearly most of you who saw my tweets know i
did not mention any designer but L’Espace goes ahead and ‘Assumed’ i was
tweeting cos they had an unresolved issue with my sister. Ideally a company that
respects it clients would have at least asked politely if his/her client had
anything to do with it and not go ahead and splash the clients name in a
malicious press release and tweet stuff like …

Just shows they lack regard for people they do business
with, and have zero knowledge about media relations. I don’t see why ‘tweets’
will make you act that way towards people who you’re doing profitable business
with.