A collection inspired by a global woman. Thula Sindi is very known in the African continent and he participated in many prestigious catwalks in South Africa,  Nigeria and also in the Arise Fashion Show in New York.

By Feriel Berraies Guigny

UFFP met the south African designer during his short stay in Paris where he participated for the first  time at the Labo Ethnik Fashion Weekend. It was the opportunity for us to get to know a little better the creative director behind the brand as well  as understanding his vision of fashion and for African women. African designers are kind of always focused on a “niche” and Thula Sindi considers  that since we live in a global world its about time that African fashion adapts itself to it. No cheap or tacky designers, sobriety, elegance and sophistication is the motto of the brand.

We really enjoying conversing with Thula who offered us a really honest and objective vision of the state of African fashion in his region, and what to correct and improve in order to have it more adaptable to the global markets.

Interview with UFFP

 

Niching African designers is not an option according to you? African women  wear anything as long as it is beautiful.

Tell us about your collection? It’s a melting pot, it has touches of India, Africa and also dutch prints because a lot of the pieces has prints and dies they are dutch. Very easy to wear and contemporary.

You focus on ready to wear mainly ? Yes for me ready to wear is more of a  science, you need to think so clearly about the fabrics, who manufactures it , you have to think about the content, the proportions. Its more challenging and more fun to me than fancy couture garment. Everything we do we produce on mass ( 300 to 800 MASS)

What are your influences ? from  season to season I catch what’s in but mainly I’m inspired by Women themselves. I like to create clothing, I like to make patterns and to touch different fabrics. And each season I always use one thing I don’t like. And then find a way to make it beautiful for myself. I don’t like leather at all but I manage to use it in the collection still.

You influence your customers this way? Yes I teach my customers to like anything that I do. Most of them are not very experimental but I do it, I do it in a way for them to be able to wear it.

 

Each season you shoot a lookbook? Yes indeed called the women of consequence. And I don’t use models but my own customers. Last season we shot customers that were dealing with cancer. So each season, I focus on a theme. Although I consider that each woman is a woman not matter what. I hate to label.

Describe the Thula Sindi woman? Sophisticated, simple, sure of herself. Too many things on you makes you cheap. Special items makes the sophistication you don’t need to overdo it.

South Africa is avant garde in fashion? Regardless of the region, you have to have a good eye on things and on the way to dress up. Elegance is about sobriety, classy and discerning. A lot of my customers don’t have innate style, still they count on me, they know how judicious with details I can be.

Fashion is about trust? Yes It is important your clientele trusts you! I try to be as woman friendly as possible, but you must ask questions, be observant, without imposing!

A family story? Yes I have lots of sisters and they come to me and  ask me; I get feedbacks even when i don’ t want it ( smiles)

Ethical fashion does it speak to you? It’s not even a question, you know for me I feel so sad to even of a brand that would not be! For me, my entire business is manufactured in JOHANNESBURG. Everything produced Is local, and I pay people very well. I cannot make my money out of people misery. Still people don’t learn, and yet the fashion industry is very important for developing countries, therefore we need to break up with these bad habits. A lot of these habits are maintained in Turkey, China, Vietnam, India and Ethiopia and people still accept to work with little wages. Big manufactures in search of easy profit keep moving from a place to another for cheaper. We need to stop these people and these corporate

We need to stop this race to the bottom ? yes indeed, you hire people from the same prize that buying a pizza? How can that be?!

And the planet is paying also? Yes we have a serious problem with pollution, dumping.

 

Designers have also sense of entitlement that someone should help them all the time? We came from a police state to a nanny state where we are fed. Designers must stop having these expectations, nobody owes them a business. When we do a fashion event, we  have also to bear in mind that the event has to be produced and financed. This whole blaming game is ridiculous, they are all digging for their own purposes.

What would you like to say to UFFP readers? We must support and educate small designers and enterprises. We need to pave the way, and we need to change the shame that is involved with manufacturing clothing. We really need to change that. It almost has become synonymous with child labor, it is negative and it hangs around. We need to support talent, transparency and ethics in fashion designs. It is really viable but we must also bear in mind that the designer has the duty to educate customers. Sometimes they do not know and you must not blame them.