WONDER WORLD: Wonder, the fashion and lifestyle brand started by the former Browns, Asos and Topshop buyer Lola Okuyiga, is releasing its first collaboration ahead of a retail launch later this year.
The brand has worked with the British graffiti artist and designer known as INSA to create a collection of NFTs and physical jackets that will be released on Thursday at 4 p.m. U.K. time.
Okuyiga, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in the U.K., founded Wonder two years ago with the aim of “celebrating products and brands that matter.”
Going forward, she plans to “collaborate, cooperate and consult with like-minded brands and artists,” and will be launching an e-commerce site later this year. The site will initially carry Wonder products, and will eventually add brands.
Okuyiga said she wants to focus on “underrepresented audiences and brands,” with forthcoming collaborations including Wonder x Aaliyah and Wonder x Footpatrol.
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The online store, meanwhile, will be about creating a “luxury and streetwear fashion ecosystem that celebrates Black excellence” and ensuring that underrepresented brands and businesses “can win at all levels.” She also wants to increase “representation and ownership at the highest levels among the global Black community, and women throughout the omniverse.”
Asked about why she founded Wonder, Okuyiga said that after 12 years of working in fashion and retail, “I noticed the lack of diversity in the C-suite level, with often women and other minorities ‘doing the doing’ without having equity or ownership. Wonder was created to authentically remedy some of these issues.
“I knew that my filter on the world as a Black woman, raised in Birmingham, born in Lagos, had a resonance with a relatively large audience and this gave me the confidence to do it on my own terms, by working with brands, retailers and artists in a way that makes sense, to make amazing product moments happen both digitally and physically,” Okuyiga said.
She added that Web 3.0 “really excites me as creatives are being rewarded without having to go through gatekeepers. More than this, women and marginalized communities can take full ownership of their work and challenge the inequalities within wages and income distribution. I hope that Wonder can be an example of what can be possible within this space.”
Wonder launched in the metaverse earlier this month with a Decentraland pop-up during Metaverse Fashion Week. It previewed a selection of drops from the coming season and offered NFTs that served as preorders against future physical product drops.
The collaboration with INSA is priced at 666 pounds for the physical jacket and corresponding NFT; and 333 pounds for the digital jacket/NFT.
Going forward, the brand will focus on virtual and physical products, with Okuyiga leveraging her background in product design and development. She created one of Topshop’s all-time bestsellers, the super-skinny Joni jeans style, which generated millions in revenue for the retailer, which was sold to Asos last year.