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With a rich heritage that dates back to a lively trading community in the 1940s, Khaliques has established itself as the premier men’s businesswear brand in South Africa and has become synonymous with style and sophistication in the C-suite.
Although rooted in its “old-school” beginnings in the country’s bustling marketplaces and city centres, Khaliques has continued to innovate and infuse the brand with creations from the world’s most revered designers and artisans.
The Khaliques slogan, “For the businessman who knows what he wants”, effectively captures the essence of the brand and its appeal to a powerful and demanding segment of the market.
Today, all the stores carry both business and casual wear in Khaliques’ signature retail surroundings, which underscore the company’s dogged emphasis on the customer experience.
Each store provides a high-end tailoring service to facilitate alterations and repairs. The Khaliques brand is still guided by the principles of its dynamic founder, Ismail Moosa, and his legacy lives on across the most influential boardrooms in SA.
The name Khaliques originates from the founder’s son Khalik, who took over the business after Ismail Moosa’s death in 1986.
finweek caught up with Khalik Moosa to dig deeper into the history of the brand and to explore the retailer’s plans for the future. Khalik now heads up the business alongside his two sons, Mohammed Faeez and Ismail, whose combined input ensures that the brand remains fresh and relevant in a disruptive marketplace.
How did the idea for a high-end, business-focused menswear brand come about?
Retail runs deep in the veins of the Moosa family, which has seen two generations follow in the footsteps of Ismail Moosa. In 1940, Ismail established the Esteem Silk Bazaar, a gentleman’s outfitter-cum-general dealer in Pretoria. The store was located opposite the then fresh produce market, surrounded by a vibrant community of traders and merchants from all backgrounds. Ismail Moosa sold menswear (mostly suits and footwear) as well as some ladies’ footwear. Then came the Group Areas Act, and this bustling community of traders disappeared.
In 1952, Ismail moved to Vrededorp and established a business that focused primarily on babywear and accessories. It wasn’t long before he started to sell menswear again, and this led to him establishing The Suit Centre in 1974. Ismail registered the business under the name Khaliques (PTY), trading as The Suit Centre. This marked the beginnings of a thriving business, fuelled by Ismail’s passion for menswear. He began advertising the brand with a slogan that soon became well recognised and admired: “It’s not a rumour, it’s a fact.”
When did the brand Khaliques, as we know it, gain mainstream awareness?
Ismail, like most entrepreneurs at that time [1970s] was self-funded. The business moved to the Oriental Plaza in 1980, and this marked the first time that the Khaliques brand was exposed to a market that soaked up the suits, shirts and footwear, which always promised to be of excellent quality and value for money.
Khaliques opened a second store in Village Walk in Sandown, Sandton, followed by another in Cedar Square in 2007 and a fourth in the new Mall of Africa in 2016.
What drives the business today and serves as your inspiration?
Armed with the lessons learnt from my father, I have continued to deliver on the value and quality promise. I have not forgotten the relationships built with the suppliers in the garment industry in South Africa who helped my father in the early days. I have always maintained that courtesy and honesty, as well as an intimacy with suppliers and customers that have helped the Khaliques brand develop into what has become the largest independent men’s suit retailer.
How do you maintain this high quality while managing expansion?
During the period of distribution growth, my son Mohammed Faeez was shadowing me in the business, and was being groomed to take it over. Mohammed has since overseen the expansion of the brand. He is a firm believer in investing in marketing and has been consistent in managing the brand and its reputation (focusing on businessmen who understand that quality and value for money go hand in hand with service). For example, we offer our customers on-site tailoring and made-to-measure services. Mohammed also recognised that the business needed to be innovative and to offer a growing and loyal customer base more brands and products.
How tough is competition in your sector, and what differentiates your product from others?
Khaliques currently have agreements in place with Bally of Switzerland to distribute men’s footwear and leatherwear, as well as leisure bags from Piquadro in Milan. The Khaliques brand offers the most comprehensive range of men’s suit and business wear in both locally manufactured as well as imported brands, such as Loro Piana and Vitale Barberis Canonico. They have a comprehensive selection of leather footwear and shirts and leather accessories.
As new competition has increased, Khaliques has always faced it head on, with the principles of the founder always the focus of attention. (Know your customer, offer value and quality and make sure you service your customer, and innovate.)
Khaliques has also introduced convenient online e-commerce solutions. The digital and technological distribution is run by Ismail who has his eye firmly set on meeting the challenges that technology and e-commerce brings. We have also introduced our own label products, and Jones and Kent has in a very short time introduced four stand-alone brand stores.
What does the future hold for Khaliques?
In 2015 we secured International Luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna and opened the first fully fledged Ermenegildo Zegna store in Southern Africa, situated in the Diamond Walk in Sandton City.
The company is firmly focused on building the brand equity in the group, and is intent on gaining loyal and passionate customers while never forgetting the values of the founding fathers.
This article originally appeared in the 13 October edition of finweek. Buy and download the magazine here.
