‘Fashion with a mission’: Black-owned clothing line helps provide access to clean water

HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) - A Henrico woman has built a clothing line rooted in her Nigerian heritage, with a portion of every sale going toward building clean water wells in the village where she grew up.

Ukay Jackson founded Ukay Collection after a trip back to her home village of Eke, Nigeria, where she witnessed a pregnant woman carrying a baby on her back and a bucket of water on her head.

“I was floored by an image of a pregnant woman with a baby strapped to the back, and then a bucket of water were placed on her head,” Jackson said. “She might have to go several, several times to fetch water to have enough to cook, clean, bathe the children, wash the clothes, and just live daily.”

Jackson, who was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States as a child after being adopted by her uncle, spent more than 20 years in corporate America before launching the brand.

The idea took shape on Mother’s Day weekend in 2024.

“Initially my business was called Ukay’s Closet, and the reason for it was because I literally sold most of my things in my closet — I had a trunk show,” Jackson said. “I brought all my fancy designer garments, bags, shoes, jewelry, scarves, you name it.”

She used the proceeds from that sale to purchase fabrics and employ women in Nigeria, building the brand alongside her siblings.

The collection features garments with materials sourced directly from Nigeria, including zippers Jackson said she can only obtain there. Women in Nigeria hand-bead pieces in the line.

“Imagine a mother of six, hand beading these one by one,” Jackson said. “Now she has more income to sustain her family.”

Jackson said the driving purpose behind the brand is funding wells in Nigerian villages.

“I started UK Collection so that I can put more wells in the village,” she said. “The mission of building wells — I want to build more wells in the village. Even if they have to fetch the water, they wouldn’t have to walk miles.”

Jackson said clean water access would have a direct impact on health in those communities.

“With clean water, we can prevent a lot of infections,” she said.

Jackson said she left Nigeria at roughly nine years old after a stranger at a bus stop gave her mother money she had lost — money needed to continue a journey to her uncle’s home.

“That’s how impoverished we were,” Jackson said.

Her uncle, a neurosurgeon, later adopted her and moved the family to the United States. Jackson said adjusting to American life came with challenges.

“The kids made fun of my face, my hair, the way I talked,” she said. “But I was living the American dream. I didn’t have to walk miles to school anymore. I didn’t have holes in my shoes. I had a desk and I had a home. I had three meals a day, which, believe it or not, that was tough to come by some days in Nigeria.”

Building the brand with her siblings has also helped Jackson reconnect with family members she was separated from as a child.

“It is the tragedy of my life,” Jackson said of growing up apart from her sisters. “My uncle gave me the world, but he couldn’t give me my siblings.”

She said the business has changed that.

“I have all the reasons in the world to chat with my not just my sister who mans the job, but the older sister as well,” Jackson said. “It’s been a privilege of a lifetime.”

When asked what has been the most fulfilling part of the journey, Jackson pointed to the people she employs.

“I think it’s my tailors and the vendors and seeing how uplifted they are and hopeful and excited,” she said.