20 Mar 2013

What started off as a very simple concept has now become a growing and established business, that’s the Ma 14 clothing brand.

The concept came about when the brand owner, Baboloki Rapulana of Mogoditshane, got married at the age of 24 in 2008 to a 19-year-old woman and people in the community started calling them a young couple, some saying Ma 14, hence the brand name.

However, Ma 14 is a street language usually used by many Batswana to refer to the modern young generation.

Rapulana said it was in 2009 that he decided todo something creative with the name the community branded them with as almost everyone was addressing them as Ma 14.

At secondary school, Rapulana loved art and this made it easy for him to creatively design the Ma 14 logo.

He said his business mainly focused on T-shirts, although in the future he would like to venture into a variety of products like  jackets, caps and shirts among others.   

 Rapulana said the Ma 14 brand was meant for all ages, despite the name, adding that between 2009 and now, he has sold to both young and old people.

He said when he broke into the fashion world, he did not anticipate that things would turn out the way they did because of competition issues surrounding the industry.

“Currently my business is doing well, I never run out of clients as they always call me to provide them with the Ma 14 t-shirts, I always have orders to deliver,” he said.

He however spointed out that the brand was not only about fashion, but it was also intended to communicate and advocate for stopping  the spread of the HIV virus as the logo has a slogan which reads; 'Stop AIDS'.

The t-shirts come in various colours and different cuts for different body shapes and sizes.  

Meanwhile, Rapulana who also works for a cabling company in Gaborone said he funded his business from scratch with his own money, but would also like to source funds from the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture so as to expand it. ENDS