Prayr Studios: Daniel Adetona
‘Our goal is to be among the top 10 leading brands in the market by 2030 and be a beacon for true sustainability powered by our purposeful designs which lower fast fashion purchases and promote functionality.’
Prayr Studios started as an individual expression of Daniel’s attitude and outlook on the world around him. Naturally however, it has grown and evolved into a collective of practitioners and creatives that believe in the same goal as Daniel but in himself also.
Looking through your instagram, you have been posting personal styling pictures since 2018. Where did your style and appreciation for fashion originate from?
Ever since childhood, Daniel has expressed himself through his personal style. “I can remember I always used to dress differently to my friends around me…dressing in smart suits and wearing colours that no one else would”. His friends would often compliment him on his adventurous dress sense imbuing Daniel with confidence from a young age. He would make his own t-shirts and other garments, printing self-made designs on second hand clothing. This impressed his peers so he started to receive commissions from them and soon had all of them wearing some of his first creations. These were seemingly the building blocks of his journey into fashion.
You have styled a number of music acts like Wizkid, Oxlade, and Dremo. Has this experience influenced your design language?
As he grew up Daniel would start to explore different artistic mediums and music was a strong influence for him. Listening to artists like Skepta and Pharrell, his personal style started to adapt and reshape to that of the idols and OGs of his youth. Still rooted however, heavily to Nigeria through his parents and community, afrobeats and west african musicians were important in developing Daniels appreciation to fashion. Eventually he was given the opportunity to showcase this melting pot of clothing and culture through styling the new generals of the Afro and Amapiano movements.
‘Styling at the time was the best outlet for me to showcase my love for fashion…Dremo, Oxlade, these guys trusted me and my artistry so I knew I had something. However, this also taught me that everyone is different and you still have to curate depending on who you are dressing…I don’t plan on doing much styling anymore though, I don’t know maybe in the future’.
In 2021 you debuted a printed leather trench coat titled ‘Send a Prayer’ that you had designed, where does your love for leather come from?
“Mowalola for me, when she came onto the scene I was just like wow. She really pushed the boundaries and made me think about what you can do differently when it comes to design.” He explained, “Nigeria has such a rich history in produced high quality leather, manufacturing for big labels like Louis Vuitton so it only felt natural to show love and construct new looks with our history.”
Shortly after you welcomed the birth of your child, how did this life changing moment affect your outlook creatively?
“Jheez I mean that’s where everything changed for me really. You no longer are just thinking, living for yourself anymore. I constantly have my child in mind, my girlfriend, my family, my future…you start to look at things differently. Like I’ve got to make it happen, my brand has to be profitable, it’s not something I do anymore, it’s what I am. For them.”
Can you describe the feeling of seeing your ‘Heaven and Hell on Earth’ jacket on the front page of Vogue Online?
“Life changing, you work so hard and create so much. Not for the intention of getting recognition from certain people or institutes, but because it’s all you know and that’s enough really…but I’m not going to sit here and lie. When a place like that recognises you for your talent and dedication it does something to you man, you think I’m on the right path…shout out big Vogue man."
Religion features heavily throughout all of your work so as a man of god, how does your faith influence your designs?
Faith is an integral driving force for the brand's ethos. Religion played such a key role in Daniel’s family structure as well as his culture. “My faith is everything”, he remarked. This is clearly evident throughout many facets of the label, from prints, to collection titles and most importantly the brands name.
“The first name I had for the brand was Prayr Zero, then I spoke to my dad, my parents...they said it’s almost like I’m telling people not to pray, not to accept God. I didn’t like that. They guide me a lot in life, so I knew that name had to change. Something holy, but with a modern cool twist, Prayr Studios.”
Where does the word ‘Prayr’ come from and what does it mean to you?
“Praying defines my connection to god, it’s my link to something greater than myself. It keeps me humble and grounded throughout the storm…It’s a family thing for me, like I’m not trying to preach to anyone because everyone is on their own path. It’s more of an expression of what helps me and if you relate to it, then you get it.”
Your recent work was featured on TikTok and was met with a wave of positivity and excitement, how did that day start out?
“Yeah man it was completely random that day, I wasn’t even supposed to go out. My boy actually got me to leave the house...we were walking around Soho and the guy came up to me and I answered a couple of his questions. Then when I showed him the jacket it was just a moment you know…I think people saw the authenticity of his reaction and how personal the jacket was to me. I wasn’t trying to overhype it because I knew what I had and immediately so did (the viewers).”
How did it feel knowing that over 100,000 people had seen your design?
“It’s crazy man, another major landmark on this path. I have so much planned so it only felt natural to me…funny thing is, my girlfriend was on the train and this girl recognised her saying she knows me, and she seen my designs and that she loved what I’m doing. It’s crazy to think that people out there know so much about me, my family and I don’t even feel like put it out there like that.”
With this increased demand in production, what steps have you taken to secure sustainability for your brand?
“In the future we aim to grow the orders, grow the demand so that we can open a place in the U.K., hire more people, have a place to create and do so much more here.” He added, “We’ve got a team of 10 workers and my assistant out in Nigeria who focus on sourcing, manufacturing, and fulfillment. Like I said before, we have such a rich history in production and manufacturing to big brands but I feel it goes unnoticed. I had showcase our skill, craftsmanship, and functionality. These foundations propell our drive for sustainability, supplying our wearers with the means to get more out of their clothing and not continue feeding the fast fashion machine that dominates (the industry) at the moment...Look at it in this way, imagine you jacket turns into a bag or your boot turns into a shoe 3 years down the line you won’t need to buy, you have it already.”
You state that your goal is to become among the top 10 leading brands by 2030. What does this roadmap look like for you right now?
“The only thing that is in our way is matching the demand,” Daniel adds, “We want to come with a different luxury standard! First thing is funding, second is supplying the demand, then a big online promotion after that and (incrementally) growing our clients and making sure we work with the right people/celebrities. You know if we get Skepta in it tomorrow, that’s 3,000 orders right there we can’t keep up with that right now.”
Daniel’s focus is clearly directed at providing a better experience for his wearers, “I don’t want to see my brand shipping in 10 days. If you buy today, you should be getting it by tomorrow. It’s going to take a lot of work, but we’ve got to take our time. Let’s see what happens.”
What’s your most controversial take?
“I just feel like we need more sensible collaborations.” He goes on to say, “There needs to be more story. You look at Corteiz and you know that (Nike) collaboration tells a story. Everything he’s been putting out leading up to it, you can see that he really cares. Now it just looks like everybody is trying to make some money,” and “slap a quick monogram or logo on it.” He finishes with, “yeah I don’t know if that’s controversial per se, but we need more story man.”
Prayr Studios
It is clear to see that Daniel is building a brand, a legacy, a message that will permeate across the industry. Starting out of his home in London, Prayr Studios is a forward leaning label built off of the history of one Nigerian/London creative. Blossoming into a progressive company that has its eyes set comfortably on its own, but even more notably on the future of green design.
