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Tega Akinola spent the 2020 lockdown a little differently than most. While everyone else was busy whipping coffee, doing TikTok dances, and following YouTube workouts, she was in her childhood bedroom turning old wires and Nike socks into fashion. What started as a playful concept quickly turned into a signature style, catching eyes online and setting her on the path as one of fashion’s freshest voices in sustainable design.
In 2020, the fashion designer was just a sports psychology student, heading home to quarantine in the English Midlands like so many others. But while the rest of us were simply passing time, Tega was busy turning trash into treasure.
“I was cleaning my room and found a bag of old cables. The USB caught my eye—it reminded me of the buckle on a heel,” Akinola tells Teen Vogue. “After that, I just had the idea to cover a heel in the wires. It was just a concept at the time—until people really started liking it.”
Akinola is part of a new generation of fashion designers merging innovation with sustainability, using discarded materials to create bold, imaginative designs. Since her first cable-covered heel, she’s continued to explore new ways of upcycling—work that ultimately led to a collaboration with Nike UK in March 2024.
We sat down with Tega Akinola to talk about her journey from concept to creation, and how she’s giving forgotten materials a whole new purpose.
Tega Akinola: I'm Nigerian-British. I moved here when I was seven. I guess where my interest in fashion came from is my mom's a seamstress, so growing up, I'd always see her sewing and she would try to get us kids involved.
Being from an immigrant household, you don't always have much. You have to find ways to reuse your old clothing or revamp them and upcycle them. My interest in that sort of sustainability in fashion came from that age where it was like, "Okay, if you don't have money, well you're going to have to reuse your old clothes in an interesting way."
TA: I remember designing some stuff when I was like 10, but obviously, I didn't make them. In terms of upcycling, it was just before lockdown when I was doing some creative stuff on the side. I was in an internship and in my spare time, I was just exploring creative things. During lockdown I bought Nike socks, and then a second-hand shoe and put them together.
TA: I didn't really think, "Oh, I'm going to create something with a cable." When lockdown happened, I was living in London and suddenly had to come back to my parents' house. I was cleaning out my room and just found some old cables and then decided to do something creative with them. And the Nike socks, well everyone was using Nike socks at that point to do stuff. It was everywhere. So I was like, "Let me do some of my own thing."
TA: So I didn't sell the Nike socks heels, but the cable stuff, I did sell a few. I developed the idea and it was pretty soon after that, the founders of APOC store reached out to me, because that was when it was just getting started, and they wanted me to sell some stuff on their site, and I was like, "I've never sold stuff before." So they mentored me a little bit, and then I released a couple of mini collections of cable heels and stuff like that.
TA: Yeah, it was interesting. I was surprised that people were so interested in actually buying something like that because it was very much a conceptual idea to me. And then I started to appreciate, I guess, the bit more fashion forward sort of side to it. But it was quite hard figuring out how it was going to be a product. I hope they’re still holding up wherever they are.
TA: It just happened, but in part, it's always been the core of my creative process because I like the idea of transforming old things into new things, like waste into treasure. I like that sort of process. That's the kind of process my brain thrives in. So yeah, it is a core part of what I do, but I didn't realize it was an aspect of sustainability at first, until I did more.
TA: What inspires the cable stuff is that I like futuristic things like tech and sci-fi and retrofuturism as well. And then the sport aspect is just natural because I like sports. So a lot of the time I try to blend the two inspiration branches of my work.
How my creative process starts depends on whether it's a concept or a product. But if it's a concept, then yeah, I might have a small idea. For example, the cable heels, I thought the fastener could be the USB port. So I have a small idea and then I build everything off of it when it's a concept usually. But product is quite different because I've got to think about, "Oh, well, who's going to buy it? How's it going to last?" The quality, etcetera.
TA: So for the concepts, I mostly source second-hand and I try to find waste also in my house. And then for products, I tried to combine existing things instead of making new materials. And sometimes you have to get new materials, but I try to get it in deadstock.
TA: I would say it's frustrating sometimes because it's still being considered in the industry. It's not a regulation everywhere.
TA: I think choosing accessories is just a bit more interesting because I feel like they can make or break an outfit, they can elevate it or minimize it in a way.
I'm also still learning how to sew really well, so I gravitate more towards shoes and accessories. And with clothing you have to consider fit, movement and things that have to do with textiles and stuff. So while I'm still learning more about that, maybe hopefully down the line I'll develop more clothing. But for now, yeah, it's mainly shoes and accessories.
TA: I got a cold email from them one random day, and I thought it was fake. So that was my initial reaction. But obviously it wasn't, thank goodness.
It was honestly one of the best projects I've worked on. And not just because Nike is one of my favorite brands, but the creative process really taught me a lot and I was really able to be innovative. What I learned is that I actually got a lot more freedom than I thought I would with what I could make. I worked with quite a small sustainability team that was based out of the U.S. So yeah, I didn't have to jump through hoops of approval to get to do things. It was a really enjoyable process. I don't think I have anything bad to say about the Nike project.
TA: That's a really good question. What do I hope they feel–I don't necessarily hope they like it.
Obviously I want people to like my stuff, but I think there's something powerful about being able to catch someone's attention and they think about what they're looking at. So even though they might not like it, it's still interesting and attention-grabbing to them. So I want people to think when they see my work, like, "Oh, what's that made from?" Or, "How was that done?" Or, "What does that mean or signify?"
TA: In 10 years? Wow. I'll be 36. I hope to see my brand still going and that might sound pessimistic, but I think we're basically in a recession. So trying to keep a business afloat is going to be hard. But yeah, I hope it's even bigger than it is now, and I hope I still enjoy doing it. I think that's important as well. I hope I don't get just completely burnt out and just disillusioned with it.
As for the industry, I don't know if it will change that much in 10 years. I think there'll be more textile innovations and retail innovations. I think people will shop more consciously as well, even more than they do now. I feel like a lot of fast fashion brands will struggle to keep up.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
