Fashion duo says name held against them

Part of AMEN's 'In the beginning' collection launched in February last year.

Part of AMEN's 'In the beginning' collection launched in February last year.

Published Aug 15, 2014

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Johannesburg - A designer duo have cried foul over their fashion label allegedly being denied access to SA Fashion Week because it is called AMEN.

Bradley Muttitt and Abiah Mahlase said they submitted a portfolio last month to be considered for a showcase for first-time designers at the SAFW event in October.

“I was told that AMEN would receive feedback by the end of last week. I did not receive feedback from them and they promised they would respond to me this week,” said Muttitt.

He said they were surprised to then receive an email from The Fashion Agent that they say discriminated against them based on their label’s name.

He showed The Star an e-mail purportedly from Annette Pringle-Kölsch of The Fashion Agent which said: “Unfortunately we cannot deal with AMEN as The Fashion Agent does not associate with any religion. Maybe other professionals have already mentioned to you to think about changing your brands (sic) name.”

But Muttitt said the label, while called AMEN Couture, had nothing to do with religion. He said Amen was an expression people used when they were complimenting someone’s outfit. “It’s an affirmative ‘Yes’,” he said.

Muttitt said they had submitted a portfolio to The Fashion Agent to be considered for SAFW and felt they were rejected for reasons he did not understand. “What are they doing for young designers? It has been our dream to showcase. We never thought this could happen,” he said.

Muttitt said they enquired about their submission and were told that the company’s portfolio had never been seen.

“All of a sudden, our portfolio disappeared even though we have proof that it was received,” he said.

According to Pringle-Kölsch, SA Fashion Week and The Fashion Agent are two different businesses and the one had nothing to do with the other. “We are a wholesale agency that represents labels,” she said.

She denied that AMEN had been blocked from anything.

“We did not ask for a portfolio or a presentation or anything that could cost a designer money. It is about how many stores you supply, price points, who is your market, is your company registered etc,” she said.

She said Muttitt had since not responded to a request for AMEN to resend its brand information.

Muttitt told The Star he believed SAFW director Lucilla Booyzen was connected to The Fashion Agent. It has been reported that it was Booyzen who initiated the agency in 2012.

The Star

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