Ndlovu living her fashion dream
Lack of varsity funds and jobs scarcity fuel designer’s passion
With just R300 to her name, Phindile Ndlovu arrived to start a new life in Johannesburg seven years ago with a desire to venture into the fashion business. Ndlovu, 25, from Ntshongweni in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, left home after completing her matric at the Albini Girls High School.
Like most girls in her neighbourhood, Ndlovu was not quite sure of what she wanted to do after she matriculated. However, she was resolute that she did not want to work for anyone but herself. Her parents did not have money to send her to university. Instead of sitting at home and hoping for a job, she decided to do something.
Ndlovu then met a friend who was already in Johannesburg who suggested she come to the big city to see if she could not make a living selling clothes.
She moved to Johannesburg and lived in a flat in the inner city with her friend. She used the money she had to buy 10 ladies T-shirts and sold them at her church.
From the R300, she made just over R1,000. She bought another 10 T-shirts and that gave her a head start.
With her natural ability to design clothes, Ndlovu approached one of the ladies in her church who was good at sewing.
She requested her to sew the designs that she had already started drawing. She designed ladies shorts and posted them on her Facebook page. “People liked my designs. I got clients from Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga,” Ndlovu said.
If a person wanted her product, she would ask the client to do measurements herself and she would take them and the design to the church lady for sewing. After the product was finished, it would be sent to the client.
By 2013 her client base had grown and Ndlovu realised she could make more profit if she sewed the clothes herself. She enrolled for a six-month course on sewing at a college in the Johannesburg inner city.
From the profits she had accumulated, she bought two sewing machines.
She raised enough money to pay for her own space where she could work. At the end of 2013 she registered her company, PND Designs.
Her business makes wedding gowns, tailor-made suits and special outfits for a variety of occasions.
In 2015 she moved her business to Fashion Shack, a centre housing various fashion businesses in the Johannesburg CBD. Ndlovu continues to promote her brand on social media as it enables her to reach a bigger market than just waiting for people to walk into her shop.
She employs one person.
Ndlovu concedes that the fashion industry is difficult to compete in.
“Our sector is not protected from cheap imports and it is difficult to get funding.” Her motivation over the struggles of competing with cheap imports is her love for fashion.
“What keeps me motivated is that I’m doing something I love. I would advise anyone to go for something they love,” she said.
Her dream is to open more branches across the country, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, her second-biggest market. Reflecting on the challenges facing the youth, Ndlovu urged her peers to find something to do while waiting for a job opportunity or enrolment at tertiary. “Education is important, but don’t sit at home and say ‘I will just keep on applying for jobs’. Work on something...”
Education is important, but don’t sit at home...