How Siya Beyile rose from the ashes: Mzansi 100

Founder of The Threaded Man Siya Beyile

Founder of The Threaded Man Siya Beyile

Published Nov 29, 2016

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The Young Independents’ #Mzansi100 campaign is a shoutout to young South Africans who do incredible work to support the development of the country. Meet one of the influencer’s on the #Mzansi100 list, founder of The Threaded Man Siya Beyile.

Behind every success story is the first effort, tremendous falls and setbacks. It’s these first clumsy steps on the road to success that shape us to be leaders in our respective fields.

Too often young people envy successful people, thinking that it happens overnight without a glitch. But what they do not take into consideration, is that this has come after many hiccups and phase starts. Their success usually follows a trail of disappointing first attempts.

When your journey takes a radical turn and disrupts the “normal” cycle this is often labelled as the end of our journey. Little does society realise that “you often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid”.

The 22-year-old founder of The Threaded Man Siya Beyile is no different. He did not defer his dreams, even after “failing” to complete his BA in Fashion at LISOF because his parents could no longer afford his tuition fees.

As the old saying goes, “there are many ways to kill a cat”. Beyile didn’t allow his dream to disappear. Instead, he networked and began interning for SA Fashion Week and later on, worked for fashion label, Dion Chang. This was Beyile’s kick off in the fashion industry.

The secret is to find your passion and be the master of your craft. Be it cooking, cleaning, singing or whatever, mastering your craft is doing something extraordinary that no one else but you can do it. In this way you don’t necessarily need to wait years waiting for employment, however, you open your own employment opportunities. The biggest trap that many of us fall into, is that we allow ourselves to be bounded by society’s success formula – complete matric, graduate from a tertiary institution and then wait for employment prospects.

This formula doesn’t necessarily work for #Influencers. To be a person of influence means that you have a responsibility to take the opportunities you are given, not only to better your own life but also the lives of those around you. Influencers don’t wait for opportunities, they create their own opportunities. In the fashion space, influencers don’t follow trends but influences others to follow their trends.

“As an influencer, I am an early adopter of certain trends, through my style I can introduce new trends to the market and make them suitable for brands,” says Beyile.

Sometimes we complicate things

Being the master of your craft doesn’t mean that you need to be able to solve for x like Albert Einstein, sometimes it means just being able to connect two pieces of fabric that look useless and turn them into a what we call a “slay outfit”. So many times people are often caught up in thinking that fashion is about looking good, but it’s bigger than that;

“Fashion is about communicating who you are and what you believe in,” says Beyile.

Beyile’s passion for clothes is rooted in culture. Growing up Beyile was always so proud of how the men and women were dressed. What caught his interest, even more, was that in our culture whatever we wear stands for and means something.

“Kufuneka ube umfana othungiweyo,” Beyile’s mother told him when he started high school. “You must be a threaded young man who not only looks good but is held together by the right things, such as manners and respect.”

Today, his mother’s wisdom has built Beyile a clothing brand, The Threaded Man.

 

 

A photo posted by Siyabonga Beyile (@siyabeyile) on Nov 21, 2016 at 5:13am PST

 

From a very young age, Beyile always had big dreams about making a mark in the forever changing world of fashion. He has gone out of his way to make huge strides in creating a go-to brand for menswear.

The Threaded Man is the leading online destination for the modern African man to stay up to date on fashion and original style. The portal doesn’t only encourage men to take care of their outwards fashion appearance but also of their inner well-beings. It helps them to be threaded both on the inside and outside.

The secret to The Threaded Man’s success is that Beyile spends time in trend forecasting, this process entails studying local and international trends and filtering what will work for different brands. Trend forecasting is important for brands because it helps managers to choose the product that will best suit their target audience and thus the output affects how they communicate with their consumers.

 

 

A photo posted by Siyabonga Beyile (@siyabeyile) on Nov 17, 2016 at 6:45am PST

 

In an earlier interview Independent Media lifestyle writer Nontando Mposo, Beyile was asked:

How has The Threaded Man portal evolved since it was launched?

“The Threaded Man is a success story on its own, but for every successful blog, there are dozens that fail. When The Threaded Man launched, the idea was that it was just going to be a portal/blog for men’s fashion. Since then it has grown into a full agency, into Africa’s largest men’s fashion and lifestyle portal. Through our styling and consulting divisions, over the past months we have worked on campaigns for big brands such as H&M, Levi’s, Stuttafords, American Swiss, Titan watches and Adidas, to name a few.”

You are clearly a creative person, is there anyone or anything that inspires you?

“It is funny because I don’t consider myself a creative person… I mean I failed at fashion school, haha!”

For more #Mzansi100 stories go to tyi.co.za

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