View full report - Fibre2fashion

with fabric, and colour co-ordination. All felt that their study programmes lacked
components for business and marketing skills development, but as Rozanne said: “I have
learnt most of these by being thrown into the deep end and learning on the job”
(Interview, 18/6/06a). Another respondent, Sifiso, said that he felt the course was “low on
formal business training” (Interview, 4/7/06a). Rozanne felt that the course she studied,
offered at an internationally recognised design school, should have its business module
scheduled during the final year rather than in the second year of the programme. “At that
early stage in the degree, the material relating to business - which, by the way, consisted
of only two lectures - went right over our heads … business lectures should be done in the
final year, so that when we enter the big world, what we learnt would be fresher in our
minds” (Interview, 18/6/06a).
All the designers had a desire to be independent: “I had an overwhelming desire to work
for myself, to have complete control over my own creative expression,” said Robbyn,
(Interview, 15/6/06). Others knew from a young age that they had a flair for design and
wanted to explore these opportunities as a solo career. One respondent, Marianne,
started by selling her own designs and holding fashion shows at her parents’ home;
another respondent, Peter, began by selling his designs at craft-markets and as a street-
vendor before he opened his own boutique.
The respondents who had been involved in the clothing and textile industry had seen it as
important to gain experience before launching their own enterprises.
All of the interviewees reported that, even though fashion design was their chosen career
path, launching their own range was challenging and a defining moment in their lives, but
that on reflection, their current success was due largely to their years spent on learning the
trade and persevering through the difficult times.
A finding common to all the respondents’ replies (albeit in varying circumstances) was that
securing financial assistance had been their primary obstacle. One designer, Kim, being a
single mother with very few if any assets, said that banks were not inclined to lend capital
for equipment, so she had to pursue a long process of producing what she could with
what she had, saving and reinvesting profits in upgrading her facilities. She felt that this
arduous course of events had, ultimately, been beneficial, as she did not have bank loans
to pay off, and her cash-flow management is simple.
Sifiso, who sells his garments from home and at boutiques, said that he had used his own
savings and profits to buy a better second-hand sewing machine; he sourced cheap but
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