Youth with a passion for the fashion industry can grow their fashion business and gain job opportunities with the launch of a South African online fashion store.
Headways Investment Group is launching Headways e-Shop, an online marketplace to help African fashion designers who have been in the industry for a minimum of three years and have their own design studios to access an extensive online marketplace to advertise and sell their products and benefit from syndicate marketing with other online stores or platforms.
With an unstable unemployment rate amongst youth in South Africa, Headway's primary aim is to find solutions to challenges facing communities such as youth unemployment, power/energy, digital inclusion (4IR and 5IR) and financial inclusion (participation in the mainstream economy).
The platform will assist African fashion designers to sell their products online to a wider audience, allowing designers to focus on design skills; never have to worry about marketing, sales and fulfilment as these will be taken care of by Headways and fulfilment partners.
"The project will go live with 10 designers who have enrolled in the programme before being opened up to more designers later this year.
African fashion designers from all 11 KwaZulu-Natal municipal districts are targeted and encouraged to enrol on the programme. Fashion designers will be enrolled to sell online throughout the year which will ensure that more designers are given the opportunity to grow their businesses and create youth employment.
Annual Fashion Shows are planned as part of phase two of the programme. These are aimed at creating a platform for designers to showcase their designs and create awareness of the online store.
The Headways programme will not only help designers grow and upscale their business but also create a sustainable business that lives beyond the life of the owner, create opportunities that are open to all designers across KwaZulu-Natal with a rural bias and unlock manufacturing capacity and economies of scale.
Interested designers who want to join the programme are encouraged to send their information to the Project Manager Ms Tamara Mkhize at [email protected].
BUSINESS REPORT