Article By: Thamar Houliston
Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:10
Perhaps the biggest problem in South Africa is that we co-exist in a bubble. We fail to constructively criticise ourselves on a business level and we tend to congratulate ourselves prematurely instead of looking for fatal flaws that might damage our businesses, our reputations...
Besides all the hype about the fashion industry in South Africa, which I have to admit is doing surprising well domestically (thanks to good PR), the fact is that if it's not happening on an international scale, then it's not really 'happening'.
One bold statement stood out at the recent Fashion Exchange +27 conference I attended last week was when one of the attendees, Lesego Malatsi said, "When I arrived in Norway, I met someone and told them I was South African they said: 'Oh the nation that congratulates themselves on mediocrity'."
Now if that's not a reality check...
To a large extent this is because we lack the education, the networking capacity, the infrastructure... or perhaps it's because we operate in a space that's devoid of real knowledge and understanding of the world of fashion, in terms of logistics, trends, experience, business...
And where have all the talented youth that can actually pull it off gone? The simple answer: to a place that provides a platform for their business, because let's face it everyone's got to eat at the end of the day.
So I sat at Fashion Exchange +27 inspired, but more terrified of how far behind we really are.
The aim of the conference — the brainchild of Gavin Rajah and Tziona Aronson — was to create a collective platform to empower and inspire the local fashion and luxury industries by providing opportunities for networking and interaction between industry players and decision-makers.
Industry specialists from all spheres of the industry were invited — fashion houses, luxury brand representatives, fashion designers, educators and scholars... to name a few.
Certainly this kind of event should have happened sooner, and we must have more big companies helping these forward-thinking individuals in a project of this nature which is so vital to our growth.
As I sat absorbing critical knowledge through the simple power of sharing, I almost wished I could fill the empty seats around me with students and upcoming designers, retailers... because we critically need this kind of convergence in South Africa.
Global versus local, or not
Two discussions during the conference which was very topical and which became intertwined were: 'Does trend spotting kill or drive creativity?' and 'Cracking the identity code in SA'.
With regards to the first topic, one point that local style guide Robyn Cooke made was: "Our style is local and global, because people draw on whatever influence they have around them." This is a critical point in the bubble debate, because not only can we not isolate ourselves from the international community, we cannot detach ourselves from the rest of Africa either.
As trend analyst Dali Tembo says, "It's important to know about 'glocalisation' because people are influenced by international market forces."
Secondly when we're talking about identity — how can we define what identity in South Africa is? Certainly we cannot identify a 'code' for all South Africans for designers to design by — there is no magic recipe for it, and then again if there were, it would cut us off completely when it comes to producing internationally.
So we need to rethink terms like 'The Rainbow Nation' and refrain from sticking on 'Proudly South African' labels, as those affiliations put us in a box that may at the end of the day be detrimental to the business of fashion in South Africa.
Real investment
The luxury business is an attractive investment for financial investors because the margins are usually very high — 50 percent plus. And as Giovanni Lepori, member of the transaction and investment team at Dellacorte Group in New York says, "There's a lot of money in private equity to be invested."
The good news is that many of these investors look to growing markets for investment, the bad news is that there are certain key aspects that we need to get right before investors will even take one look, and we certainly cannot leave any threads hanging.
Critical education
Some speakers at Fashion Exchange +27 offered advice. The first was Carol Morgan, a global trend tracker and fashion marketer from the UK. She says that we have to keep our eyes open to what's happening in our world both locally and globally. We need to get out there and "see" what people are doing, as well as really "look" at what's going on.
We also have to take inspiration from other fields such as art, music, architecture... in order to stay ahead when it comes to innovation.
We must have a clear "vision" — with an idea of how we are going to sustain and grow that vision. But she also admits that we should use our own individual identities as a basis for this vision.
Grant Blackbeard, the man behind India Jane and Blackbeard & Dare, had this advice to offer: "In order to make money you must first understand cultural trends, retail trends and social trends... and don't start any business until you've done the research, there's got to be a demand for what you're aiming to sell."
Furthermore he goes on to say that we have to educate the consumer as South Africans don't necessarily have enough buying knowledge themselves.
The other voice was Angelika Huwiler who acts as an agent for South African designers to the UK. She says that the good news is that there is definitely a market in the UK for South African designers, but these designers need a "roadmap" of entry, which at the moment the majority of them don't have. Thus, the critical emphasis again on education.
So yes, we have a long way to go. We need to educate ourselves and work together to produce the best South Africa has to offer, and we've got to share the knowledge, not forgetting that quality, innovation, infrastructure and ultimately investment is what's going to grow South African design.
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