Privacy policy

1. Introduction

This Privacy and Data Protection Policy explains how Arewa Clothing Solutions collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects your personal data when you use the Arewa Threads platform. We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and the regulations of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).

Your data protection is ensured by the NDPC.

2. Data We Collect

• Identity and contact data: name, phone number, email address, date of birth, gender, profile photo.
• Account data: login credentials (stored securely and encrypted), language preferences, notification settings.
• Measurement data: body measurements and named measurement profiles you or your dependants provide.
• Transaction data: orders, payments, payout details (for Vendors), La'ada Points activity, delivery addresses.
• Verification data (Vendors, Riders, Measurers): a photograph of your government identity document and a photograph of your face, processed through our verification partner, which checks that the document is genuine, that the photograph is of a live person, and that the two faces match. Riders and Measurers may also provide a short liveness video, which is reviewed by our team and is not sent to the verification partner.
• Usage data: pages viewed, searches, items liked or saved, device and browser information, and (for the Arewa Threads app) app interaction data.
• Communications: messages exchanged with Vendors or support through the Platform.

3. How We Use Your Data

• To create and manage your account and provide the Platform's services.
• To process orders, payments, escrow, refunds, and Vendor payouts.
• To verify the identity of Vendors, Riders, and Measurers (KYC) and prevent fraud.
• To enable tailoring, measurement, and delivery services.
• To operate the La'ada Points and loyalty programme.
• To personalise recommendations and content, where you have not opted out.
• To communicate with you about orders, security, and (with your consent) promotions.
• To improve and secure the Platform and to comply with legal obligations.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the basis of: your consent; the performance of a contract with you; compliance with a legal obligation; and our legitimate interests in operating, securing, and improving the Platform, provided these do not override your rights.

5. Sharing Your Data

We share personal data only as necessary to operate the Platform, including with: Vendors (to fulfil your orders); Riders and Measurers (to deliver goods or take measurements); and our trusted service providers. These include Paystack (payments and payouts), Termii (SMS and OTP), Resend (email), Smile Identity (identity verification), Anthropic's Claude API (AI assistant and content classification), OpenAI (image generation), Google Maps (location display), and Firebase (notifications). Each processes data under its own terms and applicable data protection obligations.

We may also disclose data where required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of Arewa Clothing Solutions, our users, or the public. We do not sell your personal data.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data for as long as your account is active and as long as necessary to provide our services, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Vendor accounts that are deactivated for non-payment are retained (not deleted) so that they can be reactivated, subject to periodic review. You may request deletion of your data as described below, subject to legal retention requirements.

7. Deleting Your Account

You may delete your account at any time, from the website or from the Arewa Threads app, without contacting us. Full instructions are at arewathreads.com/account/delete.

Deletion is not immediate. When you confirm, your account is closed straight away — your shop, listings and profile leave the site and nobody can order from you or message you — and your personal data is permanently erased 30 days later. You may cancel at any point in that window by signing in again, and everything is restored exactly as it was. After that window there is nothing to restore.

Permanently erased: your name, phone number, email address and date of birth; your delivery addresses; all measurement profiles, including those for your dependants; your profile photo, community look submissions and any product or completion photographs you uploaded, including the underlying files in our storage; your conversations with Malam Musa; identity verification documents; bank account and payout details; push notification tokens; your La'ada Points balance; and your style boards, saved items, browsing history and notification preferences.

Reviews you wrote keep their star rating, so the vendors you dealt with are not unfairly affected, but the author is replaced with a neutral label and any identifying content is removed.

Retained in anonymised form: order, payment, commission, payout and refund records, and administrative audit entries. These are required by Nigerian tax and accounting law, and deleting them would damage the records of the vendors, riders and measurers you dealt with, who have their own right to a complete history of their own work. Your identity is replaced in these records by a reference that cannot be traced back to you. They are held for 7 years and then destroyed.

We cannot begin a deletion while you have business outstanding — an order in progress, a garment being made, a delivery on the road, money held in escrow, a payout on its way, an unsettled balance, an active subscription or an open dispute. If any of these apply we tell you exactly which, and how to resolve it, rather than refusing without explanation.

Your email address and phone number are released as soon as the erasure completes, so you may register again with the same details at any time.

If you cannot sign in, contact us using the details at the end of this policy and we will verify your identity another way and carry out the deletion for you.

8. Your Rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, you have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; request correction of inaccurate data; request deletion of your data; object to or restrict certain processing; withdraw consent at any time; and request portability of your data. You may exercise these rights through your account settings or by contacting us. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the NDPC.

9. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including encryption of sensitive data, access controls, secure authentication, and row-level security on our database. Financial data such as full card numbers is handled by our payment processor and is not stored on our servers. While we take security seriously, no system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Behavioural Data and Personalisation

We use data about your browsing and purchases to personalise recommendations and improve your experience. You can opt out of personalised recommendations in your privacy settings, in which case you will see general, popularity-based recommendations instead.

11. Children's Privacy

The Platform is open to Customers of all ages, but where a user is under 18, we expect a parent or guardian to supervise their use and consent to any transactions. We do not knowingly collect more personal data from a minor than is necessary to provide the service, and we handle any such data with additional care.

12. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Platform uses cookies and similar technologies to keep you logged in, remember your preferences, and understand how the Platform is used. Essential cookies are necessary for the Platform to function. You can manage non-essential cookies through your browser settings or our cookie controls. Please see our separate Cookie Policy for details.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes through the Platform or by email. The "last updated" date at the top indicates when the Policy was last revised.

14. Contact and Data Protection Officer

For any privacy questions, or to exercise your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer at the details below.

• Data Protection Officer: Abdulmajid Usman
• Email: abdulmajid@arewathreads.com
• Phone: +2347062017631
• Address: Kofar Kaura Layout, Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria
• NDPC registration reference: NDPC/DCP/13615