In Business Today

Established and emerging South African fashion designers find home on the net

Up and coming fashion designers the world over, struggle to find a legitimate platform from which to showcase their work. London, Paris and New York are names synonymous with the established fashion houses and rarely, if ever, do new designers get the opportunity to present their creations to phalanxes of photographers and fashion editors. South African fashion designers are no different. In fact for them, it could be even more difficult.

A forward thinking SA company have launched a first of its kind in SA website to encourage established and up-and-coming fashion designers to showcase clothing and accessories in their unique online, virtual shop that is based on the very successful www.net-a-porta.com.

With soaring rents being the main stumbling block to young designers being able to display their creations to the public at large, www.adamandeve.co.za appears to have come up with a solution.

"Apart from being an excellent place to shop, www.adamandeve.co.za is giving the rising fashion stars of South Africa a head start", says Frankie Fleck, entrepreneur and Director. By having an online presence, South African brands will now not only be available to those of us living in South Africa, but to a much broader spectrum of customers worldwide.

Whilst living in the UK, Fleck realised the opportunity in South Africa of launching an online shopping portal where anyone can go online to see what is new and available throughout South Africa. This is particularly appropriate as many of the smaller South African designers are not available countrywide and many fashion conscious South Africans are either too busy to shop or live in remote parts of the country and do not have access to shopping centres.

"I believe that our virtual shop could be a springboard for a lot of the rising talent we have here in South Africa within the fashion industry and by giving these designers the opportunity to share an online portal with the likes of Levis®, Puma, Rosenwerth,Kluk CGCT, Black Coffee and Maya Prass, they are certainly going to benefit", Fleck continues.

There are currently 19 brands on the site, including well known International brands like Levis®, Puma. They also carry the more well known South African brands, Spilhaus (Swarofski), Rosenwerth,Kluk CGCT, Maya Prass, Black Coffee and Stiaan Louw to name a few, as well as the smaller boutiques like Chica-Loca and Mandy G. New brands that have recently joined the site include House of Monatic(Carducci and YSL), Bloom Handbags and Story.

Whilst a number of South Africans have been somewhat reticent in the past when it comes to spending money online, increased security measures, encryption and more rigorous credit card procedures have created a new-found confidence. Together with the convenience of desktop shopping, sizing guides and an easy returns policy, this already booming business is set to dramatically alter the way fashion is displayed and sold.

From Adam and Eve a whole population was created. From the online version, who knows?

Disclaimer: In Business Today disclaimerThe In Business Today section is reserved for relevant company announcements and releases. Companies are not entitled to have their announcements published in this section, but from time to time, these may be selected by Moneyweb for publication in the interest of the Moneyweb Community of readers. The copy has not been generated by Moneyweb nor should be attributed to Moneyweb. Nor has the information contained therein been verified by Moneyweb journalists. 29 January 2007