The Quadrant

 

Having a vision and implementing it can be two different things. Some people only stop at the vision and never carry on after that. This week we feature on The Quadrant two young entrepreneurs Fezile Kalawe and Ayanda Ngxwana who started the well known brand in Rhodes I Rep... . They allow us a sneak peak on how they made their vision into a growing reality.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you would define your personal style?

 Fezile: My name is Fezile Kalawe and I’m currently studying a Bcomm majoring in Economics and Organisational Psychology. I enjoy house music which is a contrast to my dress sense. My personal style is very hip hop influenced with a bit of a skater style.

Ayanda: My name is Ayanda Im third year in Rhodes,  I consider myself a very creative person, shy even though many people don’t believe that. I love art and  expressing my creative qualities. With the I Rep brand it was one of those platforms where I could do my own thing. I also aspire to be an entrepreneur and make my own money. Personal style for me is whatever excites the eye, I’m not really into colours when it comes to clothing, I go for more of the dark colours. Personal style should also represent who you are and with your dressing that should radiate from that, do not just follow trends do whatever works for you.

What motivated you guys to start a label?

Fezile: The main thing was just to make some extra money I guess and just share my style with other people. We also wanted to create a brand that caters to the customer’s personality or preference.

Ayanda: I Rep... brand came about in 2011 ,  Fezile came up with the idea , he approached me one day and was like “you dude  there’s a new supplier in cape town whose selling caps and customizing caps for people are you keen to jump on board” it was born out of that.

What goes into the process / behind the scenes of making a cap?

Fezile: The customer places an order on the colours and what they want to rep, we check our available stock with regards to colours, and then we send it to our embroiders and wait a few days for the cap to be embroidered and then we deliver the product to the customer.

How did you advertise you’re Brand as everyone on this campus knows about it?

Fezile: We mostly use social media and the internet. We have a facebook page and group, we also have a twitter account where people can be up to date with any news, we have a blog and we have a small website.

Ayanda: 2011 was quiet a big year for us, our first sale was at the Kaif, we had ten caps Repping different cities,  I Rep... Cape Town, I Rep... Durban, I Rep ...Johannesburg. They sold out within 45 minutes, and at that point we did not have orders placed.

How did you come up with the name for it?

Fezile: I had to find a name that explains the brand and the idea behind the brand. I rep… wear was the name that best suited the whole idea behind the brand/ label.

Ayanda: What inspires the brand is about repping yourself, hence the whole customizing concept, first we thought about maybe writing I Rep...Wear but we saw that you wouldn’t be to represent yourself.

How would you define the style your line exemplifies?

Fezile: The style is sort of more hip hop influenced because of the name and the products (trucker caps and snapbacks). Even though it has got a hip hop influence, it is versatile because many people wear caps especially trucker caps and snapbacks.

Besides having created a Brand are there other creative things that you guys do?

For now we are focused mainly on our brand, we have had a few local Grahams town artists rep our brand and perform wearing our caps.

Ayanda: I write , even though my creative juices tend to run out , I don’t write on a daily basis i need to feel the urge to write. I also graph  random designs , with  music  , I am trying to learn to make beats I’ve kind of got the basics, that’s how express my creativity

What do you offer that other labels don’t?

Customisation and personality. Our label allows the customer/ consumer to rep anything that represents them. This can be their city, their favourite drink, or even their boyfriend. We customise our caps to the customer’s preference.

Ayanda: We cater for the people that support us. I Rep... Is a self explanatory concept. What separates us is we incorporate what the people want with our designs, with the t-shirts we have had polls asking what people want on them. We intend on involving the people who are going to buy the brand, I would say that is the major difference. With our brand we have our own style and we are not trying to follow a trend, which is very vital in business and design.

Where can readers buy your clothes?

Our clothes can be ordered via facebook on our facebook page (I Rep.Wear) and our facebook group (I Rep… Wear). We can also be contacted via email for orders wear.irep@gmail.com. Most of our previous stock and stock updates are done via the facebook page.