Lad founds clothing brand
LEEUWFONTEIN – A creative and talented lad from the rural Leeuwfontein Township has come up with his own clothing brand, VHATHI-CLOTHING.
According to the founder, Bongane Mkhatshwa, starting the brand, which he did while in Grade 9 in 2018, has never been easy.
Mkhatshwa says he would budget the pocket money his parents gave him to buy food at school towards the idea.
“When friends were buying during break time, I would keep the money I had, saving it every single day, buying T-shirts and paying for them to be printed,” said Mkhatshwa.
Mkhatshwa says he has faced a lot of challenges whereby some people were negative towards his concept, undermining and badmouthing him because of his poor family background.
“Some printers were taking advantage of me, running away with my money and the T-shirts I bought but I have never given up on my dream. I kept on pushing,” says Mkhatshwa.
He says he has started seeing considerable growth on his brand in 2019 when people in his community, including his teachers at school started supporting him.
“I did an online an online competition to choose the brand ambassador, it is focused more on young talented girls, because they are the ones facing challenges GBV and teenage pregnancies. Joining the brand will keep them away from the streets
