23 Jun 2024

The fast-fashion era requires designers to re-orient fashion strategies so as to remain competitive against global fashion players.

Official from University of Botswana, Boikokotlelo Motlogelwa remarked this at the annual Wealth Creation Southern Exposition organised by the Ministry of Entreprenuership, where more than 50 fashion designers showcased their craft.

She said greatest challenge lies in the way fashion designers strategised their craft, an aspect that was lacking and had made it difficult for them to keep up with the competition.

She advised them to adopt the supply chain management system in their approach to be more responsive to changes in the fashion industry.

“You need to enhance your competitive edge in the era of fast-paced fashion industry in order to address threats from global fashion players,” she said.

She urged fashion designers to collaborate and come up with unique designs for big retail markets.

“Collaboration between all sectors of the clothing industry could reduce transportation costs and encourage closer relationships between fashion designers and producers,” she said.

Motlogelwa underscored the importance of forging relationships,  saying that way, they would be able to identify where their talents were and be able to specialise.

“That way, we will be able to have a pool of creative designers who strive for innovation other than imitating fashion brands and this is key strategy to enhance competitiveness in this fast-fashion era,” she said.

She stressed the need to partner with suppliers, adding that volatile market was attained through maintaining closer relationships between suppliers and buyers

Motlogelwa advised that for them to succeed in the market, they should be aware that innovation and creativity was critical, as it assisted them to be informed about latest trends and expectations.

Jwaneng District Commissioner, Goleba Kgari said the aim of the event was to ensure that women participated in the country’s economy and compete internationally.

He said through the theme: Transformation trends in entrepreneurship; taking the business to the next level, the aim was to encourage fashion designers adopt a competitive stance in the fast-paced fashion industry.

“We want mindset change on issues of entrepreneurship, so the aim is to learn, share skills and benchmark from others so that we can grow in the sector,” he said.

Fashion designers who showcased were from Kanye, Lobatse, Good Hope, Jwaneng, Jwaneng and Mabutsane. ENDS