The Sunday Mail
Clare Kelly
In the last five years Zimbabwean fashion has gone from strength to strength. Since the country launched its first Fashion Week back in 2011, the wider African fashion industry has started paying some serious attention.
| A midst the positive growth something surprising grabbed Mellisa Mazingi’s eye – the distinct lack of options available for local designers and consumers to buy and sell local fashion. |
Melissa set out to change that, launching Zedlabel in December 2014.
Zedlabel is an online store for Zimbabwean ready-to-wear clothing, accessories and beauty products, but more than that, it’s a place where local, self-employed designers can showcase their work and launch a fashion brand.
The job market is incredibly tough in Zimbabwe and Zedlabel encourages talented designers to turn their dreams into viable businesses and in doing so, turn local job prospects around.
Such was the case for Tsitsi Mutendi, founder of MUCHA Original African Couture.
“Stocking with Zedlabel has been very beneficial for MUCHA as it allows us to see the growth of our label and learn the aspects of what is actually retail friendly and what is not”, said Tsitsi.
Tsitsi is not alone, when Zedlabel launched it started out with seven design brands and in less than 18 months that figure has nearly doubled, with over 80 per cent of the brands being female-owned.
As well as acting as a launch pad for new up-and-coming brands, Zedlabel also nurtures fresh talent by offering training and funding programmes.
The Zedlabel Fashion Fundi Programme offers training and mentoring to young designers, including the Fashion Finance Kickstart Program – a three-month training course run by established African fashion designers.
It also runs workshops on Building a Sustainable Fashion Brand and Quality Assurance.
Furthermore, the Zedlabel Fashion Finance Program offers invaluable loan funding to help designers kick-start their brand.
This not only provides fledgling business with a much-needed cash boost, but also helps to finance the fashion sector in a country where the economy has limited liquidity and next-to-no funding readily available.
Since the introduction of this program, five talented local designers have been funded and three brands have been provided with low-cost workspaces where they can operate on a day-to-day basis.
Melissa’s business has experienced incredibly rapid growth and she’s not slowing down, having recently set up the Fashion Round Table – an ongoing series of interactive meetings allowing participants to collaborate on how to grow the country’s fashion industry.
Mellisa’s hard work and dedication has already inspired many and in her true entrepreneurial style she’s creating opportunities for members of her local community. – Virgin.
