Ecobank Nigeria has announced a December edition of its Adire Lagos festival, targeting more than 35,000 visitors and 150 African brands for a three-day programme at the Ecobank Pan-African Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, from 11 to 13 December 2026.
The festival will bring together fashion designers, textile merchants, artisans and other creative businesses for exhibitions, shopping, art, food, music and cultural activities. Ecobank says the event is intended to connect participating businesses with customers during the end-of-year holiday period.
The December programme will be the first edition of the festival staged during the festive season. Lagos attracts visitors from other parts of Nigeria and Nigerians returning from abroad at that time, providing a potentially wider market for exhibitors than an ordinary trading weekend.
Ecobank’s Head of SMEs, Partnerships and Collaborations, Omoboye Odu, said the festival had developed from a cultural exhibition into a commercial platform for small businesses. She said the bank wanted participating enterprises to use the event to make sales, build customer relationships and extend their reach.
“Ecobank Adire Lagos has grown beyond being simply an exhibition. It is an SME and creative enterprise platform that connects culture with commerce, giving businesses visibility, access to customers and opportunities to grow,” Odu said in remarks released ahead of the December event.
She said the bank’s support for small and medium-sized enterprises went beyond the provision of loans. Access to markets, payment services, commercial partnerships and business knowledge were also important to their development, she said.
The organisers have set a target of more than 150 participating brands, including fashion designers, textile traders, artisans and lifestyle enterprises. The number is a target for the forthcoming event, not a confirmed tally of exhibitors.
Ecobank said attendance at Adire Lagos had increased since the festival began in 2022. According to figures provided by the bank, the first edition drew about 2,000 visitors, followed by 5,000 in 2023, 12,000 in 2024 and 25,000 in 2025.
The bank said more than 35,000 people attended its June 2026 edition. Those historical attendance figures are the organiser’s figures and should not be confused with verified ticket registrations for the December event.
Adire, a resist-dyed textile tradition closely associated with Yoruba communities in southwestern Nigeria, remains at the centre of the festival. The cloth is produced using techniques that create patterns by preventing dye from reaching selected parts of the fabric. Abeokuta and Ibadan have long been associated with its production and trade.
The festival’s exhibitions place that textile heritage alongside contemporary fashion and other creative businesses. For participating makers, the programme offers an opportunity to present finished garments, fabric and related products directly to shoppers rather than relying solely on established retail outlets.
Ecobank has also invited families, tourists, art collectors and fashion enthusiasts to attend. The event is being promoted as a public festival rather than an industry-only trade gathering.
The bank has not presented the December attendance and exhibitor targets as achieved results. Actual participation and commercial outcomes will be known only after the event takes place.
The December edition is scheduled to open on Friday, 11 December, and conclude on Sunday, 13 December, at the Ecobank Pan-African Centre in Victoria Island.
Archive photograph: Ecobank Adire Lagos exhibition, 2025. Image: Business Post Nigeria. The photograph does not depict the forthcoming December 2026 event.
