‘Kids fashion is all cartoons, pinks and blues, but not ours’
DURBAN entrepreneurs are on the rise, with two partnerships, Skates and Candy, and Venus & Mars the latest to shoulder their way into the competitive fashion industry.
Skates and Candy owners Buhle Mabanga, 35, and Bayanda Gumede, 34, started a children’s online store and the two sisters have found what they believe is a gap in the market by creating age-appropriate affordable children’s clothing.
Mabanga and Gumede opened their store last year in November. “We decided to call it Skates and Candy, because it was a playful name for boys and girls,” Gumede said.
From a young age they’ve always been passionate about fashion, and felt children’s fashion was filled with too many blues and pinks. Mabanga and Gumede wanted to shake it up by making unique clothes and staying away from conventional style.
“Buhle and I were pregnant with our first da ughters at the same time when we started shopping around for girl clothes and we were not happy with what was on the market.
“Most retailers were filled with pinks and blues, cartoon-character clothing and inappropriate slogans on the T-shirts,” she said.
Gumede mentioned her mother and grandmother as their inspiration for creating the label. They are teachers by profession, but run small businesses to supplement their primary income.
Skates and Candy currently distributes nationwide, and their garments are produced locally.
“We choose the fabrics and test them before the production process. At the moment we outsource the manufacturing to a small company run by a woman who is based in Johannesburg,” said Gumede.
Their online store delivers within four working days and in Joburg they currently have 27 pop-up shops and were contemplating opening up a brick and mortar store, but have decided against it.
“Online is the future. Our plan is to have pop-up shops across the country, but nothing permanent,” Gumede said.
Gumede said they don’t believe children should follow trends, and thought cartoon character clothes were outdated. She wants children to develop their own sense of style from a young age and feel it is important for parents to nurture it.
Another Durban fashion duo is entrepreneurial schoolboys from Glenwood High School, Johnny Ramaphakela and Luvuyo Miya, who are using their personal style to shape their design creations.
Their Venus & Mars clothing brand covers branded jackets, caps, T-shirts and other accessories like watches and sunglasses.
The founders both had the same vision when they created the fashion line.
“We both came up with the name for our line and were inspired by the old saying: ‘Women are from Venus and men are from Mars’. Since we cater for both genders we decided to call it Venus & Mars,” said Ramaphakela.
“We try to vision what the people would like to wear, what we would like to wear and then we create it.
“We have drawings and ideas which we take to two people who bring our ideas to life. The first is Twister and the second is Zoowide,” said Miya
Their target market is the youth, but they try and make their designs more appealing for all ages and are inspired by Kanye West, Asap Rocky and Gianni Versace.
“The response we get to our brand has been really good. A lot of people like what we make, they’re really interested and they always tell us they would love to walk into our store one day. So I guess that explains itself,” said Ramaphakela.
The design pair credit their success to social media. They designed Instagram T-shirts which they posted online and their lines attracted promoters, who offered to wear them.
They’ve managed to operate despite financial difficulties and now they distribute nationwide.
For aspiring designers and entrepreneurs, Ramaphakela said: “Do what you love, become a rebel. Don’t let anyone think for you.
“A human mind is art itself, so draw your vision and let the world view it. And always make your parents proud.”