A local designer who turns discarded shopping bags into runway fashion is preparing for his debut at Halifax Fashion Week, with a bigger dream in mind: a museum dedicated to wearable art.
Victor Agara, a Nigerian-born artist and founder of the emerging brand VOLLTEGA, has caught attention in Nova Scotia with his colourful and unconventional designs made from shopping bags from Sobeys, Walmart and Dollarama, Pc optimum and other shopping bags.
“I was broke and I didn’t have money for fabric,” said Agara. “I saw these bags lying around my house and thought — what if I made something out of them?”
That decision has sparked not only a collection, but a movement. After posting early designs to social media, Agara’s work quickly went viral, drawing interest from people who wanted to buy the upcycled pieces and connect with the story behind them.
Social media helped catapult Agara’s work and put him in the spotlight. “Recently I got a 1 year brand deal with Sobeys, got gifted by PC OPTIMUM and won the Entrepreneur in the making bursary. All thanks to the shopping bag movement,” Agara said.
Agara moved to Halifax from Port Hawkesbury NS on Jan. 1, 2025, with “a dream and a passion,” and currently works at a construction site while building VOLLTEGA during off-hours. His first full collection, crafted almost entirely from recycled shopping bags, will debut in August as a part of Halifax Fashion Week.
The name of the brand,VOLLTEGA, is derived from two words in his native language — Voll, meaning “amount of,” and Teg, meaning “God’s worth.” To Agara, it represents something deeply spiritual: “the amount of God’s worth.”
His fashion journey began unexpectedly.
Though raised in a family of tailors, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Agara never saw himself pursuing sewing as a career. That changed after high school, when a tie-dye class sparked his creative curiosity.
“I used to think it wasn’t for me,” he said. “But then I had a vision, and I wanted to see it come to life. That’s when I learned to sew.”
His first garment was a “senator top,” a traditional Nigerian menswear piece, and since then he’s combined cultural identity with contemporary urban style — often with a sustainability message.
“Fast fashion has killed the art. People are used to cheap prices, but they don’t see the time and skill it takes to make something meaningful,” Agara said. “I want people to see fashion as art — and art that can live on the body.”
Now, he’s looking to take the next step. Agara is seeking support from the Halifax community to stage an installation of his work — a stepping stone toward his ultimate dream of founding a fashion museum in the city.
“My vision is bigger than just clothes,” he said. “I want to teach people, I want to build a collective, and I want to show that fashion can have meaning. That even something like a used grocery bag can become a masterpiece.”
He hopes the debut at Halifax Fashion Week will help build momentum for the VOLLTEGA brand and open doors for collaboration — including with the very stores whose bags he uses.
“I’d love to work with Walmart or Sobeys on a campaign,” he said. “But even if that takes time, I’ll keep making what I can. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and I want people to see these bags not as waste, but as the start of something new.”
