19 Jan 2015

Twoyoungmen in Francistown have added to the growing number of men who have ventured into fashion design. 



The duo, Gift Lajini and Oganne Baitsile are owners of Apara Clothing Company in Monarch.

 Fashion design has always been a way of life for Lajini, who is living with disability. 



Speaking in an interview, he said he was forced to quit school at Standard Three.

 This was after being diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), the disease that affected his hearing and forced him to stay at the cattle post.



However, after some years, he was sent to Lobatse Rehabilitation Centre, where he enrolled for dress making and the rest, as they say, is history.

 Lajini, who designs unique and exquisite apparels, said sewing is important, stressing that most Batswana import clothes and sell them locally.



He opined that if local designers can produce enough and up to standard clothing, then it can change the people’s mindset and therefore boost the local market.



His partner, Baitsile, a Fashion and Apparel design student at Limkokwing University in Gaborone said their company was funded by Youth Development Fund (YDF) in 2010.



He said their main objective is to see citizens of Botswana in control of the pattern of their country’s development.

Baitsile said youth must play an important role in developing the economy of the country, therefore their company is fully determined to successfully diffuse its way into the clothing market, both locally and internationally.



Furthermore, Baitsile stressed that his education brings more expertise to the company and that will enable it to be more versatile and render services to other companies, schools, mines and government departments.



However, Batsile decried fewer customers and electric outages and said they were assisted by the Poverty Eradication programme with a generator last year to augment for the outages.



They have a road map from 2015 to 2017, in which they are planning to design apparels inspired by Botswana’s national heritage and wildlife, being the louver of the desert, using Tsodilo hill prints, Mophane worm, Guinea Fowl and Tswii.



Baitsile said the career of fashion design is looked at by most as feminine.



He however said with passion and focus, one can earn a living from it regardless of their gender, adding that the youth should learn to do handy work, stressing that it is so far the future for employment creation.
 ENDS