Designing Is The Only Thing I Do Best -Opeyemi Babatunde

Opeyemi Babatunde, a final year student of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, is the owner of Maxivive, one of the few Nigerian fashion houses that design trendy shoes and clothes for men. He talks to KEHINDE AJOBIEWE about his new shoe collections, among other things.


What makes a good pair of shoes?

So many things can make a good pair of shoes, but the major things that make a good shoes are the type of materials used for the body, the sole and the lass.

Where do your source your materials from?

Anywhere. It depends on the collection or the idea behind the collection – the direction and inspiration of the collection really determine where the materials can be gotten.


Why did you take to shoe making?

I took to shoe designing or would I say I took to clothe designing because that’s the only thing I do best and I needed to be relevant in the society – touching people and changing the world in my own way.

Are you getting patronage for your shoes?

For now, the level of patronage is really not so encouraging, but once you know what awaits you in the future, why get distracted?

What is your vision for the future of Maxivive?

My vision is to continuously exceed our customers’ increasing expectations.

Do you dream of having your label at international exhibitions where you have the likes of Georgio Armani, Christian Dior and others?

Every day, and we are getting there gradually.

Do you have any external funding apart from your personal purse?

No external funding. Everyman for himself is the slogan people say.

Tell us more about Maxivive?

Maxivive is a full male fashion brand; we deal with clothing for men. The brand has been in existence since 2007 and it has been moving progressively. I started designing shoes in 2010.

Maxivive was the most creative designer at Model of Africa Fashion Party 2012, gaining so much media hype and lots more recognition from home and abroad.

Tell us about the collection you recently launched.

According to the great psychologist, Erik Erickson, who propounded the psychosocial theories of development, personality develops in series of stages. His theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan.There are eight major stages in this theory; the first five stages are before the age of 18, while the remaining three spread across age 18 till death.

For this year, we found the inspiration for our 2013/2014 collection themed “Itele” By Maxivive from the last two stages of psychosocial development which are: Generativity vs. stagnation, Ego integrity vs. despair.

The former which explains how we tend to settle down within a relationship, begins with our families, developing a sense of being part of a bigger picture and also giving back to the society through our productivity, community activities and children. Failure to achieve these objectives, we stagnate.

On the other hand, ego integrity vs. despair, explains how we tend to slow down our productivity and explore life as a retired person. It’s during this time that we contemplate our accomplishment and develop our integrity if we see ourselves living a successful life, the reverse which is despair. In a lay-man’s language, debrief of the relationship between psychology and fashion in this collection is the revolution of a man’s career all around the world returning to his homeland after gaining his “ego integrity” with enough ideas, fabrics, techniques, and experiences, all put together in a well thought-out manner to produce an exclusive piece in the collection and giving it a royal finishing.

“Itele” by Maxivive is a double-capsule collection which consists of earthy colours and a pop-of-colour symbolising “royalty”. The capsules are named “Itele Oba” (King’s shoes) and Itele Ijoye (Chief’s shoes).