About us

Shekudo, founded in Sydney Australia, began as a womens clothing brand -drawing on heritage, life experiences and a wearable art aesthetic.

 Now under the sole creative direction of Akudo (Amy) Iheakanwa, the brand relaunched into footwear and accessories moving its base across the Indian Ocean to commence production in Lagos, Nigeria going from 4 to 14 artisans in just a year.  With this move, the brand hoped to shed more light on the local artisan and craftsmanship scene whilst integrating some of the age old techniques and overlooked local resources into its own contemporary aesthetic.

With the growth of the brand in 2022 and partnership with retailers such as Nordstrom, Zalando and Shop Bop; Shekudo now produces solely its prototypes in Lagos, and sources most of its raw materials (woven fabrics, ceramic and recycled glass beads etc) across the African continent. Shekudo  has partnered with atelier factories in Portugal to grow the production capacity and assemble the eye-catching collections.

 Priding ourselves on being a socially responsible label fueled by Women’s empowerment, Shekudo works hard to make sure that the majority of its raw materials can be found or produced close to the source (such as its shoe heels, recycled insoles, remnant leather and linen) and seeks to employ at least 80% women in its team.

 Shekudo intends to establish a global sisterhood, promoting a sense of caring, empowerment and celebration among women across the globe, allowing its wearers to push boundaries, stand out and know that their Shekudo item is responsibly made with traceable origins.

 

The process behind our production and packaging here at Shekudo is thoughtful and places minimal impact on the environment around us. Read on to learn more about our processes. 

 

We choose to use minimal to no plastic during our packaging process to reduce our carbon footprint. We often use remnant linen when producing our dust bags for the shoes and handbags as well as recycled dried hyacinth plant rope and biodegradable boxes and hang tags. 

 

We use strategic cutting in all of our production processes to avoid wasting resources. If any waste is generated, it is recycled into new products or gifts for customers. To ensure that our operations are environmentally conscious and sustainable, our artisans do not produce in large quantities as we prefer to create products based on small batch principles and the number of orders received.

  

 Not all Shekudo items require this handcrafted magic, but for certain styles, seam needles and thread are employed with a traditional hand embroidery techniques, producing an intricate and distinctive aesthetic.