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"I am excited that I am part of a movement embracing our African roots, which are so beautiful, but have been destroyed in the past by colonialism and apartheid. Today, African aesthetics have been sidelined to Heritage Day and weddings – I’m part of the movement that says we should wear our heritage everyday, everywhere.”
Johannesburg-based journalist, publicist and accessories designer Maria McCloy has been infusing African inspirations into her fashion practice since 2007 and regularly collaborates with other African creatives who work in the bustling city’s centre.
What did you do prior to starting your own business?
Well, for most of my life I have had my own business. I used to run a media company called Black Rage Productions with Kutloano Skosana and Addiel ‘Dzino’ Dzinoreva, who I met at Rhodes University in 1994. We started our company in 1996, creating media that covered SA urban culture and we were very successful, but closed in 2009.
How did Maria McCloy accessories come about?
In 2007, I was home in Lesotho and on my way to my favourite seshoeshoe and blanket shopping spots in and around the Maseru Market area. I walked past a stall where the most amazing wire earrings were on sale. These earrings, crafted by David Makoae (who now heads up the earring process for me) were unlike any other of the many wire earrings I had seen before.
I asked him to craft me bigger ones, and when I was back in Johannesburg, everyone was begging to buy them from me. I started stocking them at Stoned Cherrie, and they appeared in their SA Fashion Week Collection, as well as in Marianne Fassler’s. Soon, singer Lira was wearing them in all her publicity shoots, and all the stylish women in town were coveting them.
How did you come to expand your product offering?
The clutches [clutch handbags] came about because I’ve always loved African culture, creativity and aesthetics. My parents moved a lot when I was a child, so I lived in England, Nigeria, Sudan, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa. These places and my friends from all over the world influenced me, as did my parents’ strong African aesthetic in terms of art, fabrics and books in our home. Sotho culture is part of my heritage, so that also features strongly.
In 2011, I was doing publicity on a Congolese movie calledViva Riva. When I was considering what media gift to create, I decided on a clutch made of African prints. Once I had some made, I realised I had the next product that I could sell.
In 2012, I started covering shoes from low-cost chain stores in cloth, and it was the shoes that really garnered me a lot of media attention and more customers.
How do you produce the shoes?
In 2013, I found two shoemakers (Romano Marmeggi and Buyi Ndzimandei) in Johannesburg’s city centre, and with their craftsmanship I was able to add women’s flats, made from scratch, to my collection. The real turning point came when I found my Jeppestown factory in 2015 because I could now make next-level sneakers, brogues and men’s formal shoes featuring my wax print and seshoeshoe fabrics. Under the skill and guidance of Romano and Buyi, there are now 18 equally talented and wonderful workers at this factory.
I recently found a women’s shoe factory in Durban, where we will be able to produce flats and heels, which is very exciting.
How did you get the funding to get started?
I still fund everything myself, through sales, and I also put all I earn from the publicity work I still do into the business. What has also been key is corporate gift orders for clutches, notebooks, diaries and necklaces, as those are bulk orders. The next step is to get the mix right so that the shoes are the right price and produced at the right volumes to be stocked in other stores.
I’d love some investment and a business adviser. It’s been “so far, so good” on my own, but my strengths lie in my creative eye and instinct, having a good sense of the market, my ability to find creatives to work with – and of course publicity and social media. And growth has been good – at the end of every year I have achieved something new and reached greater heights.
But I’m sure I’m falling short when it comes to terms like “business plan”, “strategy” and “finding investors”.
Where do you currently operate and do you have expansion plans?
I sell at Market On Main every Sunday in Johannesburg’s Maboneng Precinct and at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, Cape Town, on Saturdays. During the week I am at a workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg.
I am building a website and talking to online and physical stores. My men’s range is gorgeous, now I need to make a women’s range that matches – it’s hard to find factories in SA, but I do not want to move production offshore. I’m committed to, and in love with Africa.
I know my shoes have a market all over the world, so that’s the end game.
How tough is competition in your sector, and what differentiates your product from others?
Retail is super hard – and it’s hard when you create something, market it, make it desirable via media and celebrity endorsements, and then a year later your bags and the necklaces you popularised are being sold on every pavement!
That said, African prints are a trend now, but everyone in Johannesburg knows I was using them on bags and shoes originally back in 2011 already. Plus, there are so many African inspirations, from pots to beads to textiles and basket weaves; I’ll never run out of inspiration.
I have many ideas – watch this space!
This is a shortened version of an article that originally appeared in the 17 November edition of finweek. Buy and download the magazine here.
