South African fashion designer David Tlale sat down with Podcast and Chill for a wide-ranging interview.
The Vosloo-born designer, aged 49, tackled the issue of Mzansi’s willingness to spend R100K-R200K on luxury brands while shopping in Sandton’s Diamond Walk but not wanting to do the same for local designers.
Witnessing the queues outside the stores, Tlale’s reaction was: “What madness is this? Every product in those stores was not made in SA…”
“We as black people are the first ones to support… immediately when you swipe (for your purchase) the money leaves the country.
“You are saying David Tlale, Maxhosa, Thula Sindi, Rich Mnisi, and many other brands, are not good enough.”
Tlale said often those willing to spend the big bucks on European or American brands turn to local designers and ask: “David I want this dress, I want to spend R5000. The level of disrespect. “
There were no sacred cows as the designer who boasts 21 years of his atelier, added the government, has “not supported the clothing and textile industry so many times”.
Social media comments rolled in after and during the interview, with most netizens praising Tlale for his candour while some took a dig.
@ThisIsColber said: “David Tlale sh!ts on local celebrities for shopping at Sandton City’s Diamond Walk instead of supporting local brands while he’s wearing luxury LOEWE sunglasses??
@BonWillie said: “I hate this logic. If you can look up the top designer brands history, you will see that these guys earned their stripes through all the mistakes they have learned from and maintaining their quality through the years… “
@tholo_motaung said: “It’s true though, we don’t embrace our South African enough. We have to value them more because there is great creativity like @Imprint_ZA and also we keep money at home. We still have a long way to go to change our mindset to stop seeing local brands as inferior.”
@MsutuSine said: “I have to agree with him if we want to build our economy we must but local most countries that have great economic activity and less unemployment rate they buy local ,support local and everything sold locally create employment directly or indirectly”.
Tlale said he was the first SA fashion designer to be conferred with an honorary doctorate. He received this at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in October 2022.
Tlale’s work has been showcased at SA Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, and the African Fashion International Fashion Week.
Words: Fame Frenzy
