Johannesburg – Rapper Kwesta is set to collaborate with young up-coming designers on his new clothing range. The N’Gud hitmaker launched his range, RapyLyf Apparel, and according to his team, his next collection will be designed by a newcomer in the industry.
Speaking to The Juice, Marketing and Distribution manager at RapLyf Records, Siyabonga Mbuyisa, says the idea is to give new designers a platform.
“This is a strategy to give new designers a platform moving forward, although the first range does not have a designer’s name linked to it. However, the plan is for every new range to be released, whichever designer that RapLyf will be working with on a new range, that designer’s name will be included in the name of the range. For an example, the range might say something along the lines of ‘RapLyf Summer by Designer’s Name’.”
Siyabonga says the reason behind this was for “young creatives to take charge of their craft and use that in collaboration with the brand Kwesta.”
He adds, “Due to the numerous requests from designers that Kwesta has gotten previously, where the designer would request to do a T-Shirt or Jacket, etc for Kwesta, it was decided that having an entire range would be more beneficial than just one or two T-Shirts.”
So how do young designers get in touch?
“A designated channel for designers to submit their portfolios will be announced to the public, from then a selected few will be shortlisted and interviewed. Based on the vision of both RapLyf and the Designer for a particular range for a season, the decision on which designer will work on that range will be made thereafter,” he tells us.