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Lesela
Available for free on Google Play, coming to the iStore soon
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A new local app is linking African designers directly to consumers. On Lesela (an adjective meaning cloth in Sesotho and Swahili), you can shop for all the best fashion and accessories from established and emerging talent.
The app features design houses including African Revolution Clothing, Fluidity Clothing, Lunar, Sabali Fashion House and Apex Active Apparel, and you can get the items delivered to your door.
Created by entrepreneurial couple Andile Tshuma and Mamello Khantsi, the idea is to boost commerce on the continent.
Khantsi says: “We believe in the potential of our African fashion industry. We believe that fashion is an expression of who we are as a people, and in giving fashion designers the platform to express themselves, and show their work and their representative backgrounds with little interruption from existing, large, often multinational organisations that tend to overshadow them.”
The app is easy to download and use, but the ranges are still quite limited as some brands don’t have their products available yet.
I used the app on a Samsung J1, and some of the images appeared a little stretched on my screen. Nevertheless, we’re sure Lesela will iron out any kinks in the weeks to come, and the most important part – adding your new fashion to your cart and checking out – worked like a dream.
There’s a particularly striking headpiece on there by Nutcase ACTS made completely out of zips that will be scooped up quickly. Viva local fashion!
- Are you a designer who wants to list on Lesela? Sign up on lesela.co.za
