How many of us have been caught up in the trend of wearing the latest designer label threads or apparels? Damn, let’s not even ask, I trust threads that are trusted by many people like me worldwide so let’s not get into detail of the other designer names out there.
Now on the other hand we (Malawians) are proud and supportive of almost anything Malawian (eyes on the anything), because it represents us so if you can sacrifice your hard-sweated income to purchase foreign threads how impossible is it for you to subtract that same amount of money to dress yourself in local designer apparel?
We have the likes of Nzika and Khalidwe wear and Haus of Gola which you can wear at a Malawian engagement / chinkhoswe / bridal shower or wedding ceremony. If you are not into that then we have the so-called clothing lines that are basically “printed T-shirts” eg Nyau Unit by Tay Grin, Asafuna Asiye by TV personality and dancer Jojo, Proud to be Malawian, Bonya Addict, Face of Malawi etc. Come on guys; how in the world can you say you have a clothing line of only “printed T-shirts”? Does printing your name on T-shirt automatically make you Donatella Versace?
I feel this is an insult to the phrase clothing line and to make matters worse these printed T-shirts are only available with the friends, family and security detail of the owners of the T-shirts..which is actually funny.
Till that day someone from Malawi invents the threads that suit my liking I am proud to continue wearing the designer label gear I’ve been looking spectacularly good in for years because I can’t wear printed T-shirts based on the fact that the person printing and distributing them comes from the same village as myself.
Written By Billy Blanco