During the coarse of this past three years I have noticed quite a lot of improvements in our fashion industry but there is still a lot that needs to be learnt, that needs to be done and improved on.
Let me start of with Brand Identity. We have seen a number of designers popping up each year with exciting new lines and collections but it has come to my attention that a few are eating from fellow creatives’ plates. This, of course, is causing a lack of diversity in our fashion industry in terms of creativity and brand identity. A few fashion designers breaking this cycle is the likes of Ingo Shanyenge, Deon Angelo Mathias, Ruberto Scholtz and Simeone Johannes, who are a few designers who understand the concept of brand identity and are pushing for original creativity and content. On the other hand, clients are also to blame, most of them limit fashion designers from exploring their true creativity because clients force designers to create replicas instead of allowing designers to create original pieces that represent their brand.
This is where fashion designers need to learn and expand their knowledge about the fashion industry in general, especially the behind the scenes and how it operates internally if we want to establish successful labels in the near future that will hopefully compete in the LVMH Prize Competition or the Woolmark Prize. A lack of education about the fashion industry in general is really keeping our own industry at a very slow pace as many designers have no clue about the different fashion terminologies, trend forecasting and understanding the concept of having a seasonal line.
The business side of fashion really needs to be explored in depth, many designers are aiming or working towards a goal of having a store one day or having their clothes hanging in a retail store somewhere in a dusty corner, that kind of aspiration or goal really needs to be thrown out of the window as it has no place in our current global economic climate. I have not heard and have not been educated about the concept of E-Marketplace and what having an official website that caters to E-commerce represents. This proves that our fashion educational system is very out of touch with the current global economic climate and more needs to be done to relate our fashion course with the current economic dynamic, that changes the way new buyers acquire products and how services are offered
Another business tool that needs to be explored is Marketing and PR (think Deon Angelo Mathias), which works hand in hand especially for fashion labels, an important tool that is overlooked by many fashion designers. Sometimes designers forget that they are offering a service and selling a product. If we want to establish successful fashion labels, we need to start looking for agencies that will represent our labels and promote and advertise our products to a broader audience to generate income and bring in potential investors. Relying on social media hype alone will not allow us to be successful entrepreneurs, it will only limit us and won’t allow us to grow as entrepreneurs.
Financial education is something we (fashion designers) need to be highly educated on. We spend more then what we save. Especially on unnecessary big fashion shows (if you can afford it do it, but do not spend more then what you save). We have Windhoek Fashion Week, which is affordable and a great opportunity for young fashion designers to showcase their work. Many fashion labels fail because of this and that’s why we still do not have investors who are willing to invest in our labels because most designers lack financial education. I for one won’t say I’m perfect, but I did learn the hard way, which is why I am now extra careful about how I spend the finances of my label.
Like Tim Gunn likes to say “One day you in, the next day you out”. I have seen designers come and go, because pressure and trying to stay relevant in an ever changing environment can have a toll on any creative because as a creative your work, product and service needs to relate to current global culture, pop culture, political climate and economic climate, it not easy but if we want to move forward, we must be willing change.
I believe that, as fashion designers, we have the key and power to really create new opportunities in the fashion industry, limiting ourselves to society norms and having a very basic small fashion label in some corner won’t take us far, we really need to push the boundaries and try to stay consistent in whatever we do.
It won’t be easy but we need to push ourselves and work hard to create a very successful fashion industry.
