Faith Atelier’s Fashionable Attire
Faith Atelier: The Brand and The Creator
Faith Mabandi is the director and founder of Faith Atelier, which she established in South Africa, in 2014. I asked if atelier is the French word for attire and she burst out in laughter and corrected me. “Atelier means a studio or working space used by an artist or designer”.
The brand provides women with clothes that are appropriate for work/office, school, church, and going out. It does not however include anything couture. It’s everyday wear. The brand was established after she obtained her diploma in Fashion design at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), and worked at retail stores, and fashion weeks. That period was very short because she quickly felt that she was ready to launch her clothing line, and the timing seemed right too.
In 2017, she obtained a Textiles and Manufacturing Certificate from the Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China. The following year: her designs were displayed during the fashion show of the Nissan Micra launch. Then in 2018 and 2019, she showcased her designs in Thailand at their High Silk International Fashion Week, with 69 other designers that were selected to represent each of their countries.
Faith Atelier was then featured in the 2020-2021 Thai Silk yearly calendar. In 2022, her brand was nominated for the South African emerging talent of the Year. To date, Faith Atelier is subcontracted/in collaboration with YDE (Young Designers Emporium), so her creations are available in YDE stores across South Africa. It is also possible to contact her platforms and place an order.
Q and A Session
Where do you find inspiration and what’s your creative process?
Although it sounds cliché, I draw my inspiration from everything, everywhere, and anytime. I can look at a building or plant and see a dress. Even events that occur worldwide can inspire certain ideas and creations. I sleep with my notebook at my bedside because I often dream and need to draft what I saw/envisioned. Inspiration is in our dreams, outside our homes, and in whatever we’re doing. I find inspiration from everything, everywhere and anytime.
What distinguishes your brand from others in the same category as yours?
I really want to create what women would want to wear, the look that would be suitable for the current season, without following trends, because some people aren’t interested in following the latest trends. Others don’t want to wear what other people are wearing. My focus is always to create items that would still be relevant and wearable 10 years from now.
What are some of the challenges you’ve experienced from the inception of your company and brand?
Getting my name out there. Others should also know that it is important to determine within themselves whether they want to become a famous designer or make clothing and money without dressing celebrities. Dressing celebrities is not the ultimate for me. So, getting clients that are willing to pay for my work regardless of their social status is my aim. Obtaining funding to start the work was an additional challenge.
You indicated that it was a challenge to acquire funding. How did you manage to raise capital for your business? Savings, loan application?
Capital isn’t just money. It could be the fabrics, the machines (equipment), the working space/office etcetera. When I started, my mother bought me my first sewing machine and I worked from home. A few months later I moved to a studio and managed to buy another machine. In 2019, I applied for a grant with NYDA and bought extra machines. During the pandemic, I had to work from home but I’m back at my studio. NYDA also had a fashion show and the designers that applied for the fashion show could also apply for the funding.
Do you have a portfolio that you use for your customers to refer to or do you design, wear and advertise that as what’s available?
I make samples and organize my own photoshoot.
How do you market your clothing line? Social media platforms and online or are there other ways or does collaboration with companies like Y.D.E, help in the process?
Yeah, collaborations help because a lot of people go to YDE, so more people know about my brand. Word of mouth also helps to get one’s brand out there. So many clients and opportunities occurred because of a client that recommended me because they were happy with my work. This is the reason, it is important for me to provide work, designs and clothing that is of good quality. (I suppose this is true in any career or field of work.) If they don’t trust you, you will not get more clients. So, I treat every client with respect.
What is your vision for the brand in the next 5-10 years?
I’d like to venture into making my own fabrics & prints because I love prints. I’d like to expand my small factory/ studio and have more employees so that I can take on more work. If possible, add men’s wear to the collection. There are so many things that I’d like to do but we’ll see over time.
I’m not really a social media person, so I barely use my social media pages to advertise my work. It is something that I am working on.
I value quality and quantity so I’m expanding my workforce to better manage the demand that comes with a larger number of clients.
Did you learn to manage your business as on the job or did you study business management or business administration?
Business administration was one of the modules I took as part of the curriculum. Although many of the students whom I started with did not complete their course, I stayed the course because I’d wanted to be a fashion designer from the age of seven. I did not know how or why but the desire was there, thus I pursued her dream.
Have there been times when you wanted to give up because of the challenges you faced/experienced? Did you have thoughts that things might not work out?
Yes definitely. There were many times when I had a plan in my head, especially in the beginning and I anticipated how things were going to go but life happens, and it can be very discouraging. And I thought maybe I should try something else because maybe this fashion thing is not for me/not what I should be doing. I had to push through all the internal and external challenges, and I gave it my all.
Controversy:
What is your take on the fashion industry and body positivity/diversifying the range of models that are being used? For many years in high-end fashion, the standard was tall, slender ladies. Do you think there’s room for change or are we still far off from the all-inclusive approach?
We are getting there. There was a time when even black women weren’t walking the runway. And when they did, they’d be wearing wigs. We’ve come a long way and we still have a long way to go. We’re seeing a lot of dark-skinned women with their natural hair will walk the runway.
So, we’ll get to a point where plus-size models are included. Although there are some fashion shows that have plus-size models, the actual “plus size” is questionable because those people are not plus-size.
There’s a challenge as well regarding hair stylists for black/African hair at these fashion shows so it’s a matter that current designers need to consider when setting up their shows and photoshoots. And using real plus-size women so that the next generation can adapt as well.
Is there a sense of unity in African countries and collaboration?
As Africans, we place so much emphasis on Europeans and Americans than we do on our own continent. If a designer hasn’t been to New York fashion week, then they aren’t highly esteemed.
We don’t see our own value unless the Europeans put value on us. If Nigeria awards you, you don’t really acknowledge it as an achievement. We need not to look down on ourselves. It’s not only in the fashion industry but in music, production, and other industries as well.
Words of wisdom
Be resilient because you need to be sure about what you want to make in this career. Because sometimes things go well and sometimes, they do not. So, knowing that this is what you want to do and following everything. Even when nobody knows about you just focus and keep going.
As a sub-contractor to YDE, she needs to produce what is in line with the customers that the stores are accustomed to having so she cannot produce the prints that she’d like.
However, she noted that even when she produces clothing in plain/simple colour versus print, most customers are inclined to purchase the simple/plain colour clothing designs.
I am discovering me. Figuring out who it is that I want to be. Flowetic at times, poetic though my lines won't always rhyme. Beyond a star, although never a mime. I am kind, I'm ambitious, self-driven and free-spirited shoo-in. I have followed, flipped heads from tails, now I'm ready to lead. Ready to heed to my calling.
Inspired to explore my creative nature, through interacting and learning about the different forms of art. Living in the present and excited for the future. My focus right now is void of credentials, I choose potential~Kinetically, it's what makes us influential.
