Renike and Dami’s paths to Bawsty began with two women’s stories. Dami had always been interested in fashion, but never imagined turning it into a business, while Renike’s experience as a full-busted woman made her familiar with the difficulty of finding clothes that worked for her body. When Dami came to Renike with the idea for a clothing brand for full-busted women, the two sisters-in-law and friends decided to build it together.
They reflect on the friendship that became a business partnership, learning how to work together, growing Bawsty without losing sight of the women they created it for, and all the cool things they hope to build next.
Before Bawsty became a clothing brand, Renike already knew what it was like to struggle with clothes because of her body. As a full-busted woman, finding pieces that fit properly was not always straightforward, so when Damilola, her sister-in-law-slash-friend, came to her with an idea for a brand that would make clothes specifically for full-busted women, Renike immediately saw the gap they could fill.
“I was like, oh s***, this is such a good idea,” she remembers. “This means I don’t have to struggle to wear clothes again.”
Dami had identified a gap in the market, but before Bawsty, fashion had never been a career path she had considered. She had studied architecture, worked in brand identity design and spent years building a career in the creative industry. Renike came from a different relationship with fashion, one shaped more by the experience of trying to find clothes that worked for her body.
Together, they turned Dami’s idea into Bawsty, a brand built around making clothes for full-busted women. Almost four years later, they are still figuring out how to grow the company without losing sight of why they started it.
Dami grew up in a home where she had plenty of room to explore her interests. Her father, a structural engineer, was the kind of man who encouraged independence, while her mother supported Dami through the different things she wanted to try. Whether it was music or a pillow-making business, Dami’s mother backed her in every way possible.
Her mother’s own life showed Dami that there was no single way for a woman to build her future. She had been a homemaker before returning to work when her children were older, eventually building a career while earning two university degrees. Dami grew up watching her take on different roles at different stages of her life.
Renike’s childhood, however, was different. Her family went through financial difficulties after her father’s business suffered, and she had to adjust to a change in circumstances. She also spent part of her childhood in boarding school, which meant becoming independent early. Her mother was a civil servant who also had different side businesses, and Renike grew up watching her balance those responsibilities. The experience gave her an early understanding of work as something that could take different forms depending on what was needed.
By adulthood, both women had already found their paths. Dami had studied architecture before moving into brand identity design, while Renike had built a career as an illustrator and visual artist. Honestly, neither career seemed to point directly toward fashion, but both women had already developed the creative skills and independence that would later shape how they built Bawsty.
Dami had been interested in clothes since she was young. She enjoyed putting outfits together and remembers designing things in her head, including a pair of shoes she once made by cutting up old wedge shoes. It even got to the point where she became her mother and sister’s go-to person when they needed help deciding what to wear.
Still, she did not necessarily see fashion as a career. She studied architecture because she liked the combination of creativity and analytical thinking, then moved into brand identity design and eventually ran her own creative studio. Fashion remained something she enjoyed personally.
Renike did not grow up with the same interest in fashion. Her experience with clothes became more significant as she got older and began to understand how difficult it could be to find pieces that accommodated her body.
That experience made Dami’s idea immediately relatable when she brought it to her. Renike could see the problem Dami wanted to solve because she had lived with it herself. What began with Dami identifying an opportunity became something they could both work on.
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Dami and Renike first met through Renike’s brother, who is now Dami’s husband. Their relationship developed over time as they became part of the same family and gradually got to know each other beyond their roles as sisters-in-law.
By the time Bawsty came along, they had already established a close and beautiful friendship. That gave them a level of familiarity that would become useful when they started working together, but frankly, neither woman believes friendship or family automatically makes someone a good business partner.
For Dami, the more important quality is reasonableness. She knows disagreements are inevitable when two people are building a company together, but both people have to be willing to listen, communicate and work through problems.
Renike views it similarly. Being close to someone can make you more willing to overlook their shortcomings, but that does not necessarily mean the person is right for you professionally. For them, their relationship gave them a foundation to build on, but working together still required them to understand each other in a completely different way.
When they started Bawsty, their roles developed around their different strengths. Dami took on creative direction and production, drawing on her background in design and branding. Renike focused more on marketing and community, building relationships with the women who interacted with the brand.
Working together has also become a continuous learning process, with each woman picking up vital skills from the other. Renike says Dami taught her how to be firm while still treating people with respect. She has watched Dami handle difficult conversations by taking time to think before responding, something Renike has tried to adopt in her own approach.
Dami says Renike has taught her to pay closer attention to people. She describes Renike as someone who takes a genuine interest in other people’s lives and celebrates their personal wins. For Dami, that experience has made her more conscious of expressing that kind of care within the business.
Their different approaches do sometimes lead to disagreements. Renike remembers one difficult shoot when she became frustrated with the team, and Dami later called her out for how she handled the situation. They were able to have the conversation, address what had happened and move forward.
For them, disagreement is part of working together. They do not need to see every situation the same way, but they need to be able to challenge each other without damaging the relationship.
Bawsty has grown without a large marketing budget. Despite that, demand for the clothes has continued to increase, sometimes faster than they can produce them.
The growth has attracted investors and created opportunities to expand, but Dami and Renike have been deliberate about the kind of growth they want. One of their decisions has been to continue manufacturing in Nigeria despite the difficulties involved, including challenges with fabrics, skilled labour, and production processes.
Dami believes there is value in developing the ability to produce locally rather than relying entirely on manufacturing elsewhere.
As demand increased, they also had to think about what their pricing should look like. When customers complained about products selling out and some people questioned whether the scarcity was intentional, the founders had different instincts about how to respond.
Dami considered increasing prices, while Renike brought the conversation back to the women they had created Bawsty for. They wanted the clothes to remain accessible to women of different incomes, rather than becoming a brand that served only customers who could comfortably pay more.
That conversation reflects one of the choices they have continued to make as Bawsty grows. They want the company to expand, but not at the expense of the women who made the brand what it is.
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At the centre of Bawsty is an idea Dami believes the fashion industry needs to take more seriously: different bodies require clothes that are designed to accommodate them.
“The body is never the problem,” she says. “Human beings come in different body shapes and body sizes. If the clothes are not working, then the clothes are the problem.”
That principle goes beyond creating clothes that technically fit. Bawsty wants full-busted women to have options across their wardrobes, rather than being limited to a small selection of styles designed around their bodies as an afterthought.
For Renike, the experience she wants to create is straightforward. She wants women to put on Bawsty clothes and feel good without spending the day worrying about whether their bodies work with them.
The community around the brand has become part of that experience, too. Customers have supported Bawsty by sharing outfits on their social media platforms, recommending it to other women, and providing the founders with feedback. For a company that has never relied heavily on paid marketing, that relationship has been important to its growth.
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Dami & Renike have already begun thinking about where else they can take the idea. They have discussed categories including shapewear, lingerie and sportswear, with the possibility of expanding the range of products available to full-busted women.
Renike wants Bawsty to become the brand women think of whenever they need clothes that work for their bodies, from underwear and swimwear to skirts and dresses. She jokes that they want to “take all their money,” but the ambition is to build something that women can return to for more of their wardrobe.
Dami is equally interested in what the company becomes as it grows. She does not want growth to mean losing the closeness between the brand and its community, or turning Bawsty into something that no longer resembles the company they set out to build.
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