Founded in 2021, Tolu Coker is a sustainable luxury fashion and lifestyle brand, rooted in three core pillars: community, craftsmanship and culture.
Inspired by the duality of the designer’s British-Nigerian heritage, family history of social activism and passion for social change, Coker proposes a distinct notion of reformative luxury fashion that centres quality tailoring, cultural preservation and collaborative multidisciplinary practice over the brevity of seasonal fashion trends.
About The Designer
Tolu Coker is a British-Nigerian Fashion Designer and Multi-Disciplinary Artist based in London. A graduate of Central Saint Martins’ BA in fashion design and textile print programme, Coker launched her eponymous fashion brand in 2021, following several successful stints at J W Anderson, Celine and Maison Margiela, and has since used it as a vehicle for creating equity and social change.
Inspired by the politics of identity and social climates, Coker’s collections, films and artworks are informed by her multi-disciplinary practice, and merge artisan craftsmanship with innovative technology to explore hybridity and fluidity in societies and cultures. Her mainly-unisex designs have a key focus on deconstruction and sustainability, championing ethical and inclusive ways of designing and manufacturing, whilst using clothing as a means of having important conversations.
Coker’s radical approach to widening inclusivity and participation within fashion and the creative arts has seen her partner with institutions and charities across the globe to empower communities internationally, including Choose Love, Amnesty International and The City of Joy. In 2022, the designer partnered with WeTransfer on their biggest creative global campaign to date and L’oreal Professionnel on their largest global hair and education show. Coker continues to create collections in alignment with social causes she is passionate about.
Coker’s unique multi-disciplinary approach to fashion and design is pioneering in both it’s style and social impact. Whilst boasting a global client base and high-profile supporters, Coker has racked up an impressive array of awards and honours including being one of five cover stars on the January 2024 'Sustainability Trailblazer' Cover of British Vogue, The British Fashion Council NEWGEN Award 2023-2024, Forbes 30 under 30 list (2022), Prada x Theaster Gate Experimental Design Lab Award(2022/3) and 2023-2024 Net A Porter Vanguard Programme.