10 minute read
SA FASHION
FIERCELY LOYAL LOCAL FASHION
South African designers are carving out names for themselves on the international fashion scene. THANDO PATO speaks to some of them to find out what it takes to be a global player
Maxhosa’s range of knitwear features bright prints.
MAXHOSA: LUXURY LOCAL KNITS
Laduma Ngxokolo, founder of local fashion brand Maxhosa, believes his brand’s main competitors are luxury fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci. “From a pricing position, we are not far off from them, and in the retail space, our stores are adjacent to theirs,” he explains.
Ngxokolo says that Maxhosa customers are not price-sensitive and can readily afford his range of knitwear for men and women. The brand’s main customer base is South African and most of the sales come from its stores in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, The Mall of Africa in Midrand, and from its studio in Johannesburg. Even online sales are mostly local, but the brand does have an international footprint. Besides featuring in the latest reiteration of Coming 2 America starring Eddie Murphy, they have been featured in international titles like Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
“WE ARE PROUD TO BE A SOUTH AFRICAN BRAND. WE CAN BOAST THAT NEARLY 90 PER CENT OF OUR CLOTHES ARE MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA, AS WE NOT ONLY HAVE A FACTORY IN PORT ELIZABETH, BUT WE ALSO SOURCE OUR RAW MATERIALS LOCALLY.” – LADUMA NGXOKOLO, MAXHOSA
Laduma Ngxokolo
Ngxokolo says Maxhosa is available on some international online stores and has featured instore at Bloomingdales in New York and San Francisco. “The long-term goal is to open our own retail spaces overseas rather than work through a merchant. But that is long-term, we are still focused on growing our market share here in South Africa. Though we are doing well, I believe there is still an untapped market in places like Durban, Mpumalanga and the North West that we must harness.”
The brand has grown locally in popularity, thanks to its signature designs and prints, which he says are rooted in Xhosa heritage, but are also a celebration of other African cultures.
“We are proud to be a South African brand. We can boast that nearly 90 per cent of our clothes are made in South Africa, as we not only have a factory in Port Elizabeth, but we also source our raw materials locally.”
MANTSHO: OFFERING EXCLUSIVITY AND UNIQUENESS
Johannesburg-based brand Mantsho and founder Palesa Mokubung made international headlines in 2019 when Mantsho became the first African brand to collaborate with Swedish retail giant H&M. The capsule collection was sold in 61 stores in 11 countries. Mokubung describes Mantsho as “a global brand that is based in South Africa with a solid international and local following”.
Like Maxhosa, Mantsho recently had a selection of designs featured in the movie, Coming 2 America, which also stars local actress Nomzamo Mbatha. Mokubung says that the brand is uniquely South African because she is “consciously making sure that my pride is evident in the Mantsho prints and textiles, which all tell a story of my culture and heritage.”
Available online and instore at her studio at Victoria Yards in Johannesburg, at the Africa Stores at Sandton City and Menlyn in Pretoria, Mokubung says that most of her sales are currently happening online due to the pandemic, which has also made customers more price-sensitive. “However, our clientele values quality, exclusivity and luxury and they’re more than willing to pay for it.”
Mokubung says that the competition among local fashion brands is not stiff because the industry is so small. “There is enough space for all of us. We compete as colleagues, but not as rivals,” she explains.
Palesa Mokubung
AFRICA YOUR TIME IS NOW: MAKING A STATEMENT TO the WORLD
The Africa Your Time is Now brand is the brainchild of Papama Mtwisha, the founder and owner. “Our brand was conceptualised, founded and is manufactured in South Africa. Manufacturing in South Africa was very deliberate on our part. Even though it would be cheaper to produce in the
East, it made more sense for us to keep the currency circulating here on the continent and keep people employed. “Our mandate was very clear from the outset, namely, that we want to inspire in every single way – from the message we are spreading to creating employment by working with local manufacturers.”
The T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts and other fashion items bearing the slogan have become popular and a mainstay in the fashion world, with most of the label’s sales happening online.
“As a brand that launched online, our online sales are consistently strong. This is attributed to the fact that we timeously deliver orders and if there is a challenge, we communicate. Most of our clients love the convenience of having their parcels delivered to their door,” Mtwisha explains.
She says that although the brand’s clientele is mostly local, it does have an international footprint. “We are currently available in Europe, the United States, Australia and some major cities throughout Africa.”
Papama Mtwisha “MANUFACTURING IN SOUTH AFRICA WAS VERY DELIBERATE ON OUR PART. EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD BE CHEAPER TO PRODUCE IN THE EAST, IT MADE MORE SENSE FOR US TO KEEP THE CURRENCY CIRCULATING HERE ON THE CONTINENT AND KEEP
PEOPLE EMPLOYED.” – PAPAMA MTWISHA, AFRICA YOUR TIME IS NOW
FAST FACT
Some of SA’s most sustainable design houses create clothing and accessories from recycled plastic and fi shing nets. Others achieve sustainability with locally sourced bamboo, soy, cashmere and corn from rural communities, and imports of organic cotton from Lesotho, or make use of sustainable fi bres like hemp and organic cotton.
Source: www.ecopak.co.za
SA DESIGNERS ARE MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THE LOCAL GDP
South African designers contributed at least R1-billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during 2019. This is according to the study, Assessing the Economic Value of the Designer Fashion Sector in South Africa, released last year before the pandemic. The study was a collaboration between the Department of Trade and Industry and Competition and the South African Cotton Cluster (SACC).
The research also revealed that the sector can aggressively target the growing upper-middle class, who are more inclined towards buying “slow fashion”, rather than the fast fashion dominating the mass retail market. Slow fashion is a growing trend in international markets, where consumers are taking a more conscious approach to fashion and favouring small-scale and responsibly produced products.
The South African designer clothing sector is in the position to adopt and cater to this trend says the report. “The sector has the ability to service the increasingly stringent requirements of the market when it comes to sustainability and ethicality throughout the brands’ value chains. There are ample opportunities when it comes to positioning the designer apparel sector as a pioneer and custodian of sustainability,” the report states.
LOCAL DESIGNERS BAG THE LVMH PRIZE
One of the most coveted awards in the fashion world for up-and-coming designers is the luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy’s (LVMH) Prize for Young Fashion Designers. In 2019, Kimberley born designer Thebe Magugu’s self-titled women’s label beat over 1 700 international entries, winning R5.2-million along with a one-year mentorship programme provided by a dedicated LVMH team.
In 2020, Cape Town-based fashion and textile designer Sindiso Khumalo was shortlisted for the award. However, due to COVID-19, no winner was announced, instead the prize money was split among the nine fi nalists.
This year, Lukhanyo Mdingi, a local womenswear and menswear designer based in Cape Town, is a fi nalist. The winner will be announced in September at a gala event in Paris. The competition now also includes an opportunity for the fi nalists to participate in a capsule collection for 24S, the LVMH-owned retailer. For the fi rst time since its introduction in 2013, members of the public helped judges select the nine fi nalists.
Source: vogue.com, TimesLive and LVMHPrize.com
TAKING LOCAL TO THE NEXT LEVEL
In recent years, there has been a resurrection of the “buy local” sentiment. Shoppers realise that every Rand spent on a local business builds the economy as that money recirculates in the community
While supporting the “buy local” initiative, consumers still want world-class products, and we know that South African craftspeople, given the support and opportunity, can produce export-quality goods.
Equator – the Belt FactoryTM, a design house and manufacturer based in Durban, South Africa, provides such an example. The manufacturer produces quality belts for its South African retail and brand partners, including Markham, Woolworths, Polo, Mr Price, Levi’s and Cape Union Mart.
Centred around the people that make its belts, Equator puts a kind face to the name of fashion manufacturing in South Africa. When it comes to belts, Equator makes it possible for people to localise their accessory purchases.
But what about how the factory itself is pushing to localise?
As part of a greater sustainability journey, Equator has a three-point strategy posed as questions: Where is the belt made? What is the belt made from? How is it packaged and distributed?
Having focused on the first question and being the first manufacturer in the CTFL (clothing, textiles, footwear, leather) industry to achieve a Five Star Green Star Certification for green building, Equator is now focusing on the “what”.
While the “what” also focuses on the type of materials that belts are made from, a big focus lies on addressing where these raw materials originate and are produced. Increasingly, Equator is attempting to ensure that the materials within its supply chain are sourced from closer to home.
In the past two years, by working closely with both leather and buckle suppliers in South Africa, Equator has managed to significantly reduce its material imports and increase locally produced materials in its supply chain.
“Sometimes localising one’s supply chain means seeking out opportunities by engaging with potential partners,” says managing director Leon Buhr, who founded the company 20 years ago. “If you take our belt buckles as an example, we decided to engage with a factory that wasn’t making belt buckles, but was already working with metals to make other products. We put our heads together and found a way to procure the necessary equipment and use that factory’s skills to craft our belt buckles right here in South Africa.”
Equator believes that the “what” is also about engaging with retailers to increase demand for products that are not only produced locally, but are also made from locally produced materials. The factory has approached some of its biggest customers with local leather and buckle alternatives to bring them on board. “At the end of the day, as we localise our supply chain, we need the buy-in from our retail partners. If they are happy with the quality of these locally produced materials that make up our belts, we know we have a win-win situation,” Buhr explains.
Ultimately, the importance of localising the supply chain comes down to more than the benefit to South Africa’s economy and community. With an accelerating environmental and climate crisis, businesses are under pressure to reduce the carbon emissions associated with their business operations. Localising across the supply chain as much as possible is a very successful way to contribute to a solution.
South Africans have known for some time that local is indeed lekker, however, it turns out that there are ways to dial up the “lekker-ness” even further – for companies and manufacturers to not just produce locally, but also source their raw materials as locally as possible.
UPPL IMAGES: S
For more information:
031 702 1469 8 Pine Industrial Park, 16 Pineside Road, New Germany, 3610, KZN, South Africa www.equator.group www.thebeltshop.co.za
