The bustling Yaba Market in Lagos, Nigeria has something for everyone.
Chatter rises from traders, their stalls spread over miles of cracked gray concrete and packed earth. They might be selling baskets of fresh fruit, wheelbarrows full of phone cases, piles of sequined clothes or racks of second-hand clothes.
If you’re lucky, you might find the vintage jacket or long-lasting Levi’s jeans you’re looking for. But you’re not going to be as lucky as Density: the coolest of the cool kids in Lagos. These skaters, usually dressed in a uniform of baggy pants and crop tops, head to the thrift market every week. Armed with fashion knowledge, they can only be young, fun and determined, and find the best streetwear they can find.
Founded in 2020 by Blessing Iwona, 26, in response to the lack of space for young queer people and female skaters in Nigeria, Density Skate, Dream Together and Thrift. From his trips to the market to regular skate visits to the dilapidated National Stadium or Tarqua Bay Beach, he has traced his own map of the city.
“I tried to find one,” she said, referring to the group where she felt at home, “and then I said, ‘Let me build my own. Not just for me, but for other people like me who want this kind of community but don’t know how to go about it.’
