Where do a childhood dream and a modern creative skill meet? For fashion designer and merch maker Alagbe Alfred, the answer is in the name he chose: Medio.
A current undergraduate student, Medio has rapidly carved out a space for himself in the design world, crafting unique merchandise with a distinctive point of view. His journey is one of self-teaching, community learning, and drawing deep inspiration from his personal passions and family.
We sat down with the emerging talent to discuss the origin of his name, his rapid rise in the design game, and how his ambitious vision for the future bridges the worlds of fashion, sport, and creative entrepreneurship.
Kindly introduce yourself
My name is Alagbe Alfred, but I go by Medio. I’m a fashion designer, and I make merch at the moment.
What’s the inspiration behind your name, Medio?
So, when I was younger, age 16, I wanted to become a professional footballer, so the name Medio used to be Mediocampistan, which means attacking midfielder in Spanish, which is my position. My friends said it was too long, so I shortened it to Medio, and that’s the name that stuck.
How long have you been making merch designs?
Since last year. I recently started posting. Initially, I usually make stuff for myself, my coming brand, which is not out yet, so I asked myself, why not share them? I can share my stuff and inspiration out there, and I can even get job contracts as an undergraduate.
Do you’ve a name for the brand?
Yes, I do. The name is very precious to me, and I would not like someone else to jump on it. I prefer not to share it yet.
How did you learn how to design Merch specifically?
I started designing last year but I’ve always been able to do stuff like this, I was learning web designing at some point, so I’m an amateur web designer, and I already had the name of my brand since 2023, I didn’t know how to design then but I could draw, so I was like let me start designing my stuff myself.
Then one day I could not use Adobe Illustrator on my laptop, because it was not good enough, so I went to Microsoft Paint, so I started making my stuff on Microsoft Paint, it was not bad, and also not the best. I shared it with my brothers and friends, some of them were like Cool, cool.
Then this year, Notsphere, they posted about Jesse with the caption, “will this boy that makes designs on his phone, ever get a chance?” Then I saw through the comment and found the app he actually used for his design, which is IBIS Paint X. Then I downloaded it, and I couldn’t find my way around it, but I started making stuff.
Later on, there was a day when Jesse started a mini community to teach people how to design, so from there I learned, and ever since then I have been doing my stuff. Shoutout to Jesse.
Would you consider him as one of the people who inspired you when it comes to designing, or people you admire as a pro, or someone you can tap for information or ideas?
I think every aspiring designer would definitely go for Virgil Abloh, and in terms of close relatives, I’d say my brothers.
Are your brothers designers?
No, they are not, but they introduced me to fashion very early. My family is heavily into fashion, so I drew inspiration from there.
Are there any brands or people whose merchandise inspires you?
There are a lot of people that I know, but one of the brands is Go crazy. I love the brand. AVID is also one of the brands I admire, Bolapsd also.
Can you touch on your recent design of the Xtz jersey and how it was made?
About the Xtz jersey, the initial idea came from the trademark Jude Bellingham celebration, where he puts his hands wide when he scores, but on the cloth, it is not like a person but an abstract object giving a person-like figure. So from the red part of the jersey, it symbolizes someone standing making the Jude Bellingham celebration.
As an undergraduate, what are you studying?
I am studying Human Kinetics. I accepted the admission because it relates to sports. I wanted to be a footballer.
Do you see yourself making sports merch and going into sports?
One of my dreams is to become a professional director of football, which is more like off-the-pitch stuff.
Do the directors of football dictate the way jerseys are designed? Do you see yourself designing a club jersey?
The director of football don’t have a say in how kits will look, so i don’t have an idea, but if I’m to design it, it will definitely be for Chelsea or Barcelona
Are you not interested in designing for your own country?
I love Nigeria too, so I would design for us. I told a friend of mine that I would like to design the warm-up tracksuit used for the Olympics. I would like to do that for Nigeria 2028, so let’s see.
I would like to know what the concept would be, but I believe it would be something beautiful.
What’s one of your favorite viral moments?
There is this design I quoted with fuga, I did not make the original design but I created my version then Daniel Adetona who works with Dr. Martens saw it and commented saying I like this. That was mind-blowing for me. I didn’t make the original design idea for clarity; I made my version, a recreation. I also posted a scarf design I made; it was my first time making a texture myself.
What’s one of your proud designs?
I titled it Battle of Stalingard.
You’re a year and a half in the design game. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Well, I will be done with school and my master’s. If everything goes according to plan, I will have my brand and probably be actively involved in football.
Do you wanna give a shout-out to anyone?
Shout out to my family and my brothers; they are fans of my designs. After my designs, they are the first people I show. Shoutout to them.
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