Chatting to designer extraordinaire David Tlale at his photo shoot for his latest Spring/Summer collection to be released in August.
The award winning designer says he’s more about creating opportunities than looking for them.
Inspired to empower young, upcoming designers, Tlale started a campaign of giving aspiring designers an opportunity to work with him.
Intern by David Tlale is a platform for young designers to learn about the fashion industry and actually get to work with the fashion guru.
“The Intern by David Tlale was inspired by having to empower young people to believe in themselves, the craft, and believe in the fashion industry. Also to say, you can become greater, you can become a fashion designer that is proudly made in South Africa. It was also inspired by the fact that you not only have to look for jobs but create job opportunities, as we have a huge problem in our country that most people are not employed and everybody else is expecting someone to employ them”, says Tlale.
Since its inceptions about five years ago, Tlale has employed 18 designers on a full-time basis. And through the workshops he conducts around the country, he has mentored about 30-60 young designers.
“Since 2012, I’ve had about 18 interns on a full time basis and beyond that. Also from 2012 until now, I have run workshops in KZN, Gauteng, Limpopo, Western Cape and in each province or city, I have approximately 30 to 60 young designers attending. All of them take something home to implement and try to become better people”, he says.
On Sunday, another group of 12 designers will be starting with the programme which will run for three months and one of them will be Tlale’s assistant, working with him, sewing creative coutures and all that. Tlale invigorates the youth to use their talents to move South Africa forward.
“It is better to do it for yourself because our government and the parents don’t owe you anything. And it is very important that as current youth, we take South Africa forward and not focus on the bad that we have but focus on the great things that can come out of this country.
We have such a beautiful diverse country, we have amazing talents and creativity and we need to make sure that we work and focus on it to advocate for South Africa because it is a better place to live in,” says Tlale.
The Spring/Summer collection 2017/2018 is ready. It includes African print inspired tops, dresses, skirts and denim pants which Tlale says is some of the simple yet classy and affordable wear.
The biggest size offered is a size 42. It will be officially released end of August and will be available at one of the leading retail stores.
Images: Supplied