The South African Music Awards (Samas) recently held in Durban are as much about fashion as they are about music. The Swagger Wear brand is bolstered by and straddles both industries, writes Omeshnie Naidoo
Wolfpack (Kyle Deutsch, Sketchy Bongo and Aewon Wolf), Cassper Nyovest, Khuli Chana, Da Les, AKA, The Kiffness and Burna Boy have all been spotted in the street style brand, Swagger Wear.
The high quality, locally lekker label is the brainchild of Chatsworth-born Julian Moodley, 30. It is proudly designed and manufactured in KwaZulu-Natal.
Moodley opened his first store at the urban regeneration Rivertown Precinct in Durban called 8 Morrison Street in January and has been selling online since the brand’s inception two years ago.
After the Samas, Moodley held a swank Swagger Cruise for his muso friends.
He is the first to admit that the brand’s success is largely owing to its hip hop industry association.
“I used social media to get the brand off the ground. There is such awesome support. Once stylists realised we’re this South African street wear brand that can compete with international houses, when it comes to fit and quality, they started using our clothes for shoots, music videos and TV adverts. The artists saw the brand and started wearing it.”
A brand developer, with eight years’ experience, Moodley says the label is always positive. “There is no hate speech, and zero negativity.”
He adds, “We’re taking influence from youth culture. We don’t use expensive trend forecasting websites to create our ranges, we just have our feelers out in the real world.”
He also thinks he’s got the price just right.
Apparel from tees to jackets, jogger and caps are priced between R300 and R1200.
Quality, he says is another key aspect.
“We use 250g cotton lycra for our T-shirts. They feel great. We’ve taken our cue from high-end international brands. Our T-shirts, for example, are similar to the Armani cut but with a longer sleeve and a longer length; our joggers are in the Belmain style; and our leggings have eight needle floss stitch, which is super strong and streamlined.
“We also try to keep it exclusive. The Swagger Wear label on our caps is gold plated. We don’t use ink or printing, which make our designs harder to copy on the black market.”
Immersed in both industries, Moodley says predicting trends, isn’t rocket science. “While our palette is largely black and white, we’ve included some solar red, as with our PU (plastic) pants. We’ve got cloaks for winter and introduced some army greens.
“They’re all short runs. We don’t want to make too much of one thing.
“At the moment there is a super light range called Into Air. Another called Future tech, the military vibe and coming soon is the Golden Child range.
“I’m excited about Golden Child,” says Moodley.
“We’re taking our brand into the community, particularly with children’s initiatives and I love the concept of the Golden Child. It’s in line with our positive thinking and essentially it’s about showing your worth. The line consists of champagne golds, some oatmeal and white.”
Moodley says, “I’m passionate about change and I want it to shine through my collections.”