Lockdown took us back to the drawing board

Mbabane: South African based liSwati fashion designer says lockdown has provided a chance to go back to the drawing board and develop news strategies.

Precious Dube a 28 years old liSwati who is based in South Africa running a business called Her Royal Highness Design (HRH) says this is time for drafting new plans for business.

In an interview with this publication Dube said like any other sector, fashion has also been affected by the covid-19 pandemic, which has seen governments introducing lockdowns.

“It is bad and frustrating to not be able to move or do what you like which in my case is creating garments. And closing shops was really not nice at all because that’s where we get money to pay our monthly bills. Lockdown took us back to our drawing board, we had to develop new strategies”.

Dube was explaining how her business was doing during this time of COVID-19. She says fashion is mostly exhibited in occasions so with this lockdown and social distancing, fashion is highly challenged.

“At this level as fashion designers we have now been forced to make what the industry tells us to focus on, which is lounge wears, fashionable masks, with only that it’s already proven that the industry is broken”.

Dube is a Swazi, born in Malindza in the Manzini Region who established her fashion business relocated to South Africa to advance her business interests.

She told the Independent News that she has been in the fashion industry for over six years and she has dealt with quite a number of high profile clients in Eswatini as well as South Africa.

Before the coronavirus Dube says she had developed and managed to grow her client base. “My client base has grown, and I juggle between meeting deadlines for clients who are in the country and South Africa. ‘It becomes crazy, I had to travel almost every day to make sure that my clients are satisfied with their clothes, but I enjoy it,” she said.

Now with the implementation of lock down things have changed. She says they are forced to go back to the drawing board to draft new strategies for business and shift focus.