My Bulawayo got the opportunity to chat with the SHADEOGREY C.E.O, Bez Ndlovu to find out more about SHADEOGREY, the brand ,their new exciting line and their plans for 2016.

M.B: Tell us about how SHADEOGREY started?
It started in 2012, I had been toying with the idea of starting something. I had always made t-shirts for myself, because I used to design for a few Christian clothing labels, I felt when I used to design for them I had a lot of restrictions. So that’s when I thought, let me come up with something and make my own t-shirts, they look cool and I could probably make money with it at the same time, so initially it really was a hobby.
The actual name came in around 2013, the name came from this popular saying that life is not always black and white, but it’s made up of shades of grey. That captured me because I didn’t want to create a brand that catered for a specific group of people. I wanted it to be universal like the varying shades of grey although they are all still grey at the end of the day. So that’s where the name came from

M.B: Tell us more about the connection between your brand and music?
The brand is an extension of me and I would like to believe I have been influenced by not only fashion but music. I believe the two are married together, that’s why you find we have quite a few brand ambassadors who are musicians. We feel that at the end of the day there fans are the same target market that we are trying to reach, so business wise, it makes sense to work with musicians and artists.

M.B: Who are your current brand ambassadors?
We have done a lot of restructuring so at the moment we only have two artists who we are taking into the coming year. That’s Asahp and Tawanda (t1nda), we really going to be doing a lot of work with them. We feel that they need to grow as artists as well and we want to be more involved in their work.
M.B: What does getting involved entail?
In any arrangement it should be a win win. We are going to be hosting quiet a number of things and in promoting these guys. Where we will dress them and their fans will try and emulate them buy buying the brand. We can help them to spread their music and for us to spread our brand.
M.B: Who is your target market?
We mainly do street wear because we feel that’s what we would wear when growing up. Our target market is people between 16 and 35 years of age. The vibrant people, the out-going people even the chilled people. The whole concept of the brand is to celebrate life.

M.B: Tell us more about the events you guys are planning hosting.
Well SHADEOGREY is not just street wear brand, but it’s a life style brand, so we are trying to build up the life style side of things. We going to be hosting different functions like music concerts and try and work with as many possible brands and people as possible. Because we feel we are a part of a community and we want to make a contribution as well as help people that are talented , who don’t know how or do not have the resources of getting into the industry, so we want to help those types of people whether it’s a designer or an artist.
M.B: Would you be focused on people from Bulawayo?
We want to start off with Bulawayo because this is where we are from, but as we go along we will be branching out. We have been trying to speak to some people in Harare to try and get something going there because we feel as much as we are from Bulawayo we want to be part of a global market and we want a wider audience. We have plans to grow to be bigger than we are right now.
M.B: Do you guys have anything coming up soon?
A lot of our major plans are for next year, even as earlier as January. Right now we are focusing on our latest line which is already out, we just trying to market that. But there are going to be a few shows that our brand ambassadors will be taking part in.
M.B: Tell us about the line you currently released.
It’s a black and red edition, basically those are popular colours a lot of people like the combination of black and red. Some would not admit it, it’s only after they see it then they like ahh I really like this. I’ll admit I love those colours I just never really thought much about it. With our previous lines we have always had other colours, more subtle colours and have one red and black, and we quickly realised we would sell the red and black out within a few days and a lot of people would walk in and the first thing they would ask for would be a black T with a red print or read T with black print. So after getting that feedback we thought let’s do a line based on that. That’s where the idea came from. We should be releasing some more things from this line next week.

M.B: Tell us more out how you market your brand.
Because we are a street wear brand when releasing and marketing new lines we feel that doing a fashion show is more for designer based lines as its quiet glamorous. So what we decided to do photoshoots and we release those. Because fashion is visual, it’s not enough to say we have a new line people need to see it. So we tell people in advance that we have a line coming up we let them know what it’s called what it’s about. We also give them snippets of what to expect so people get a rough idea as well as to create hype. Then we announce it once it’s arrived. Normally the first place is the website. But there’s also a shop at Haddon ‘n’ Sly called “ Style 29” on the second floor they stock our line. We really have a good working relationship with them and feel they have the style and vibe that reflects the brand.

 

M.B: Tell us more about the online shopping option on your website?
It has brought a whole new way of shopping as an option for people. In the beginning people were a bit hesitant but they have warmed up to the idea. The introduction of the debit card really made it easier for people as it allows people around the world to access our product; we have had people as far as Germany ordering our product.
M.B: Would you say your brand is affordable?
Yes it is. We’ve done some research and have found that people don’t like cheap and at the same time they don’t want expensive. We try and keep our prices as competitive as possible. So we now know what people are willing to part with and how much becomes too much. For example our t-shirts prices range between $20 and $25 and we have realised that people are willing to part with that amount. But it’s also comes down to them believing in the brand and the product.

M.B: What makes you guys different from your competitors?
We are not trying to reinvent the wheel, you find that the combination of my team allows our brand to be so dynamic and stylish because it’s all about style but we are still learning and are open to new ideas and talents that’s why we still trying to come up with the best blend of talent from the design aspect of things as well as making sure we working with the write type of artist.

M.B: Where is your production done?
We get it done locally or done down south, it’s easier because there’s a certain quality that we can’t get in Zimbabwe. But we do try and have things done in Zimbabwe, but at the end of the day it’s important to produce a product of the best quality for our target market.
M.B: Are you involved in any community work?
The most recent community work we did was being involved with the celebrity sale, but we actually have a lot of community based projects planned, we want Bulawayo to grow and really want to get our ambassadors out interacting with Bulawayo.
M.B: What can we look forward from you in 2016?
We planning on participating in a few fashion shows, perhaps even host our own. We are looking to expand our range. Currently we have t-shirts, hoodies, bennies, jackets we should be getting caps. 2016 will be about building onto our current range, so more shorts, pants and vests. We really want to have a full range that should make it easier to have fashion shows.

Thank you for taking time out to talk to us
Your welcome