(vievenne westwood spring 2013)

Been away for a while and just haven’t had time to post anything on:(, however i’m back now and will be updating you with the new trends for spring 2013 yeeaahhh!! lol. (so chech my page Qtrend analysis)

Also I’ll be updating about the art and design galleries have recently visted and how and the very iunterestin things have i’m learnin on my foundation degree course in art and design.

SO WATCH THIS SPACE!! lol

I was recently in Ethiopia for the Origin Africa event and on top of having a fantastic cultural experience and history lesson (Addis Ababa is truly an amazing city) I also had the pleasure to hang out with the lovely guys from ENZI Footwear firstly over an ‘interesting’ shared plate of chips at Lime Tree Cafe and then out  to Club H20, dancing to the sounds of DJ Edu representing with Afrobeats, old school R’n’B and Ragga – yep Ethiopians know how to party especially to their reggae to my delight (unshamedly my inner Jamaican heritage erupted into dance).

I had heard about this new African based shoe brand who use the highest available grade of Ethiopian cow, sheep and goat leather. on my network ‘radar’ and so made it part of my heaving schedule to meet up with them and get to know the minds behind the company and the aims and design innovations of this upcoming footwear label.

So with a vision to “..change the perception of Africa and develop its manufacturing capacity through the production of high quality and well designed footwear while maintaining a commitment to social and environmental responsibility”, and with their London launch looming this coming Thursday, I would like to introduce to you Azariah, Jawad, Sam and Christian of ENZI Footwear.

AFG: With such an inspiring vision please tell us just how did Enzi Footwear get started.

Enzi: ENZI was officially established last year, but the idea and been in the minds of co-founder Jawad and Azariah for nearly 11 years now.

Azariah: It was mostly birthed out of frustration. Jawad and I grew up together in Kenya and after graduating from high school we went our separate ways (Jawad to England, and myself to the USA) to continue our education.  The ignorant perceptions we both encountered in the “West” deeply frustrated us.  It’s a story almost any African living abroad can relate to you, the offensive questions, jokes that aren’t funny and assumptions that formed from a 30 second news clip.

A few years into our studies we met back in Kenya during a summer break with several other classmates, and almost all of us experienced the same frustrations.  There was a difficult balancing act Be African, but don’t act African, that some of us had to manage if we wanted to be accepted socially in our new environments.  It never felt right. So this group of former classmates started talking about how amazing it would be to start a brand that represented us, and the Africa we were proud of, something to challenge the stereotypes and that would an external reflection of your inner pride.  We had no idea how we’d do this, in fact we didn’t even have name, but passionate discussion began nonetheless.

image courtesy of ENZI Footwear

Enzi: The real vision for ENZI began years down the road when Jawad and I were living together in London.  Over the next two years of living together we formulated what type of brand we wanted to create, and what the mission would be.  A few years later I had moved to Ethiopia, and Jawad came to visit me and we discovered Ethiopia’s amazing leather.  It took a little over a year of R&D to settle on our local partners, and once we had that in place we reached out to our business partners Sam Imende and Christian Ward.

Sam is a childhood friend who grew up with Jawad and Azariah. Christian is also a long time friend, and the relationship between us has been invaluable in our business development.  We do have organizational structure (Sam – CEO, Christian CFO, Jawad Head of Design and Development, and Azariah COO) but apart from Jawad’s lead in  designing, all our roles overlap to a large degree. We try to operate as stakeholders rather than employees.  Everyone does their best to tackle whatever task is in front of them.

AFG: Why was it started?

Enzi: As we were coming up with the concept, we started to see other brands coming to Africa to produce footwear.  We thought to ourselves “if they are doing it, why can’t we?”  It was really that simple.  Yet we  didn’t want to create a “pity product”.  If we were going to tackle the negative perceptions associated with our continent we knew we had to create a high-end product that could stand toe to toe with well-respected brands on the market.  We knew we would have access to some amazing leather, but we wanted to make sure we created an aesthetically pleasing shoe with an emphasis on craft.  It took time to find a local partner we could do this with, but once we did we really began to take the steps to launch the company.

AFG:  We spoke about the background of the logo you use. Can you describe this again for our readers what it means and where it came from?

Enzi: We LOVE our logo! It is inspired by a full stop in Amharic, a language that dates back to biblical times and is also the national language of Ethiopia.  The same way a period comes at the end of a complete thought or sentence, our logo is the mark of a complete creative process.  It’s our mark of quality and completion.  We love the logo not only because we think it looks cool, but it’s inspired by the deep and rich history of Africa.

image courtesy of ENZI Footwear

AFG: You proudly promote Made in Ethiopia as the country of production for your shoes how important is this for the brand?

Enzi: The label “Made in Africa” can be annoying.  You never see a product that said, “Made in Asia” or “Made in Europe” on the tag. It says “Made in China” or “Made in Germany”.  Why shouldn’t we receive the same distinction with our products? We do recognize ourselves as an African brand, but we are also are very aware of how often people refer to Africa as if it were one large country.  The heart of our vision is to change people’s misconceptions of Africa, and we feel that being specific about where are products are made we do that in a small way.  As we expand our production in the region we will continue to recognize the country and people who are making the products.  We have already begun integrating artisan designs from Kenya and talking to textile manufactures in Uganda.  Each country has unique offerings that will help us build our brand and we want to communicate that to the market.

AFG: Do you then source and produce everything locally? And how ethical is your sourcing and materials you use too?

Enzi: To be honest we haven’t been able to source everything locally.  Our goal when we started was to source everything locally and produce a completely eco-friendly shoe. We were very ambitious, and perhaps a little naïve when we started this process.  It is still our passion, and our vision to do so in the future.  In fact, part of what has taken us so long to launch our product has been our reluctance to compromise on our sourcing and environmental impact. We are hoping that as we grow and work with local partners we can place orders that are large enough to fit into a leather tanneries production cycle.  In the end we realized that our first mission was to change perceptions, and we felt we couldn’t compromise the look or quality of the shoe to do this.  As we work with local partners, and as we grow will be able to do so without compromising.

Deola Sagoe has built up a hard reputation as a brand to be reckoned with. Its branding speaks elegance, exclusivity and elite-ness (does this word exist even?! Well, I am adding it to the vocabulary now!), as seen in their product pricing (how about spending £1,696 on a dress? Yes, I may be able to read your mind and I am sure it says E X P E N S I V E!). Their product quality, the attitude of the designer & brand (you don’t see them everywhere and they don’t just feature in any type of event or publication!) and also their point of sale. Their flagship store in Ajose Adeogun Street in Victoria Island, Lagos which is very airy, light, glass made and clutter free contemporary space – just what you would imagine/expect of a brand of such calibre.

1)    Look:

On first impression at Deola Sagoe, I expected a more exclusive, elegant and a newer image to welcome me rather than the outdated one that is presently on the homepage. After entering the site, I was then not sure about where to click next as I was bombarded with different mish-mashed images representing different information points on the website. Where is the exclusive brand continuity I begin to ask myself? Surely this is a misleading representation of their brand’s image?

The David Tlale bio speaks about priding itself on challenging mediocrity however on first impression, the website could definitely be more appealing. The 2 tone black and gold colours are not so bad…they are very masculine and sure speaks about the power, position and strength of the brand. Nevertheless, the images portrayed could’ve been visually more fluid and beautiful representing the elaborate and haute couture pieces that the David Tlale brand has come to be associated with.

image copyright David Tlale

On the other hand, the Jewel by Lisa new look website vividly displays the brand’s vintage inspired Spring/Summer collection.  It is a postcard/gateway to the good old days gone by which is what the collection promotes; unique pieces reminiscing the days where fashionistas wore unique items to create their own fashion statement. The JBL brand has excellently recognised the importance of “visual” display in a fashion website and they are using this to maximise the image and position of their brand.

2)    Relevancy:

Do the sites have what its customers could be looking for? Okay so let’s imagine, what would a customer be looking for? Information about a new collection (look book) perhaps? A designer bio? A progress report on what the brand is doing behind the scenes, which is a way of keeping a brand constant in the minds of an audience (blog)? A point of sale address (plus any stockists information) and contact details of the store and the team behind the brand?

What is then presented?

Do the sites have what its customers could be looking for? Okay so let’s imagine, what would a customer be looking for? 1) Information about a new collection (look book) perhaps? 2) A designer bio? 3) A progress report on what the brand is doing behind the scenes, which is a way of keeping a brand constant in the minds of an audience (blog)? 4) A point of sale address (plus any stockists information) and contact details of the store and the team behind the brand?

 http://www.africafashionguide.com/2012/06/fashion-africa-brand-analysis-what-does-your-website-say-about-you/

What is then presented?

For Deola Sagoe, a badly presented lookbook/collection section which is clearly not easy at all to locate, too many pictures of the designer with no clear relevancy on the bio page, the address of the store which is also very difficult to view (is it my browser?) because it overlaps with the images presented of the store and to top it up, no contact information for the Deaola Sagoe team! The blog is outdated with a post on “Clan” (the head designer’s daughters’ new label) written in October 4, 2011. The question that pops up in my head is does Deola Sagoe now want to be hip and hop or exclusive and elite? I was confused as to why they would feature ”Clan” on their blog albeit I understand the label is founded by the head designer’s daughters.

Okay, so let’s move on! My next question was how would a would-be customer get in touch with the brand as this is not on their website? Is this information left out because they are trying to maintain their exclusivity? Are they very comfortable with the clients they have that they no longer need more? Plus, is nothing going on behind the scenes at house of Deola Sagoe worth reporting to us about? Too many confusing messages sent out to the audience!

It’s not rare for Kenyans who’ve traveled abroad to want to come back home after they complete their studies or make enough money, but it’s quite odd for a person born in America to Kenyan parents to want to return. For James Muna, that’s exactly the case and the sooner he moves back ‘home’, the better.

“When I’m in America I’m the Kenyan guy, but when I’m in Kenya I’m the American guy so that’s always tough. People are always making fun of me in Kenya because I don’t speak three or four languages,” Muna said.

He returned to Kenya after his junior year for an eight week internship at the International Livestock Research Institute, but he felt it was a waste of time because he was under utilized.

“For seven of those eight weeks I was sitting in my office running regressions on my computer,” he explained. “I was in Nairobi and I kept thinking, ‘I could be doing this in the States, so what’s the point of being here right now?’” he added. While in Kenya for his internship, he received some unexpected inspiration from his aunt and uncle who run a residential development firm. “When I was out there I saw them building a lot of homes and employing a lot of people and that’s when I started thinking of entrepreneurship as a career,” he revealed.

With entrepreneurship on his mind, he returned for his senior year at Cornell and started his own fashion company called Borawear.

“The original idea was that it would be a graphic t-shirt company with the theme of ‘Africa redefined’ because the only images that the West really see’s of Africa is poor children sitting in sewage with flies all over their faces,” he explained. “I’m not saying that those images don’t exist in Africa, but there’s more to Africa than those trite images that we’re shown all the time,” he added.

He graduated from Cornell University in May 2012 with a degree in economics and a minor in international relations, but he decided not to apply for any jobs, opting to pursue his dreams of being an entrepreneur. Muna said that he’s been working on Borawear for the last seven months after he got an idea in his room one night to cut up a kikoi and shuka that were lying around and turn them into t-shirts.

“I asked some friends what they thought of it and they loved it,” he said. “It was just me and my sewing machine and the first month I did $20 (Sh1,707) in sales, the second month I did $40 (Sh3,415) in sales, but in April I did like $700 (Sh59,762) in sales,” he revealed.

With the sudden success of Borawear starting to earn him a profit, Muna began to realize the potential for the business and determined that he wanted it to be made in Kenya by Kenyans because “the power of the movement is really in employing others”. “We’re employing HIV positive women in Embu to make the shirts and then we’ll sell the shirts here in America and part of the proceeds will go to an orphanage in Embu for HIV positive children called Toto Love,” he explained.

“It’s just a men’s wear line at the moment but the whole idea is to empower people through the apparel, not in some cheap marketing way, but by providing these women with employment and by helping the children at the orphanage,” he added.

He chose to begin production for Borawear in Embu, a town located on the southeastern slopes of Mount Kenya, because that’s where his parents were raised and much of his extended family still lives in the region. Muna has launched a website, www.borawear.com, which features a quick video explaining the brand and what he’s trying to accomplish, while showcasing what the new clothes will look like.

http://www.africafashionguide.com/2012/06/borawear-the-fashion-house-with-a-difference/

But don’t expect him to start dishing out the gossip, because absolute discretion is a professional hallmark of the tailors on Savile Row in London, whose customers over some two centuries of service stretch from famed military hero Horatio Nelson to Michael Jackson and Britain’s Prince William.

The now master cutter at Dege & Skinner collected one of his most favorite anecdotes at the tender age of 18, when he was given the task of dressing then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation.

“It was an amazing thing…being at Westminster Abbey and actually having to dress the great man,” Skinner told Reuters on a visit to the Row in honor of London’s first ever standalone event for men’s fashion over the weekend.

Skinner has spent a lifetime on Savile Row, a street known around the world for the bespoke clothing made by a handful of traditional firms such as Dege & Skinner, Gieves & Hawkes, H. Huntsman & Sons and Henry Poole & Co as well as modern designers like Ozwald Boateng and E. Tautz.

The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Queen Elizabeth as well as Admiral Horatio Nelson and the man who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington, have all had clothes, robes, suits and military uniforms from the tailors gathered here.

Skinner who runs one of the last remaining family-owned businesses left on Savile Row with his son William, opened their showrooms and workshops to the public as part of last weekend’s first London Collections Men fashion event.

“We’re not a sort of hocus pocus bunch of people behind frosted windows. We’re actually pretty decent people who do a pretty decent job doing our damnedest to make really nice clothes and that’s what gives us the buzz,” Skinner said.

“It is exciting to be part of the fashion week and to showcase Savile Row and what we do as a trade in terms of the craft industry, making clothes in the time-honored fashion for the individual,” William Skinner said.

Two-piece suits from the country’s top craftsmen in men’s clothing start from 3,000 pounds ($4,719), but customers who may be daunted by the eye-watering prices for bespoke clothing from a Savile Row tailor have some options.

Dege & Skinner provides many alternative methods of payment to encourage people to buy on Savile Row, added Michael Skinner.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/06/20/us-fashion-britain-savilerow-idUKBRE85J0RM20120620