God bless denim . . . and condemn anyone who thinks otherwise.
It's the people’s fabric.
We can’t do without it or the companies responsible for giving this to us.
Beyoncé released a song, Levii's Jeans with Post Malone, and Levi’s Jean's, the company that first gave us denim, saw a significant spike in sales as a result, as much as a 15% bump.
This isn’t to say they were struggling before that underwhelming record was unleashed on the world.
But it does go to show how fond we are of denim.
Locally, we have a few fashion houses that specialise in jeans. You have heard of Tshepo the Jean Maker but what about Veppes jeans?
These have been trending on X (Twitter) for a while with an array of local celebrities gravitating towards these denim creations.
Sandile Mthombeni from eMalahleni in Mpumalanga has a decade of experience in jeans wear fashion, with his brand, Veppes, reaching its sixth year in operation.
“It's been a rewarding experience for me and the team,” he gushes.
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He has always been fond of tinkering with fashion, and this developed along with his skill for it.
“The love for fashion started early when I was in my early teens, say 11 years old. It grew as I got more accustomed to it. I did sketches of different garments and I think I bought my first sewing machine when I was in high school,” he recalls.
He would almost reverse engineer these designs, deconstruct them and put them back together to see how it was all done in the first place.
“After I had a handle on using a sewing machine, I went to look for sewing businesses around my town to volunteer so I can get more experience.”
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His passion has paid dividends all these years later as people like DJ Sbu, Chymamusic, Jaivane, Vuyo Dabula and Jucy J have all been spotted rocking his creations and giving his brand props online.
“After I worked for different companies specialising in different clothes I left and started mimicking what I'd learned to start my own thing. I opted for jeans because they were the most worn item for most people. I then worked from there to introduce different items of denim wear, T-shirts and the like along with accessories.”
Now because this particular item of clothing can be both fashionable or functional, you might wonder what makes his so special.
“Veppes jeans are cut to fit, functional with an appealing fashion flair,” he explains.
The name probably jumps out at you at first.
“Veppes is a name that I coined it had what I wanted the buzz, was easily pronounced and would appeal internationally how I came about it. It's funny as it’s a [portion] the word Schweppes when you hide the ‘sch’ and half of the ‘w’ you'll get Veppes as Pablo Picasso was once quoted saying "Good artists borrow, great artists, steal."
As you can tell the man has an intrigue with the arts but he also gets inspiration from South African urban lifestyles that have a strong relationship with fashion and music.
“I'll then create designs that sync with the inspiration,” the gifted entrepreneur adds.
His products are produced locally with 55% of his creations being made internally at his factory that has over 20 employees with the other 45% of his works being crafted externally by their subcontractors nationally.
“Expect more collaborative projects, widened product categories and new stores. We have plans to collaborate with local brands in different markets to expand our reach and footprint. Maybe one day work with brands like Nike and Margiela, I admire them."
His range includes T-shirts, jumpers and accessories to complete the look.
“We sell at our flagship store at Highveld Mall in Emalahleni, online @veppes.africa and we'll be opening at Braamfontein in a few weeks,” he informs us.
“Those who can't access our physical stores can utilise our online store for a convenient shopping experience.”
