Falling rand affects South African designers

The third edition of the menswear fashion week in South Africa, is taking place at the time when the South African rand has fallen making things difficult for the country’s economy.

The rand has fallen by more than 7 percent this year. Young designers lament on challenges they are going through.

“I think it affects us a lot especially me because I have recently opened myself up to doing business with other countries so with the rand being lower everything is kind of expensive and travelling to those countries it’s kind of tricky now because the rand is very weak so it’s affected us negatively,” Mzukisi Mbane, a fashion designer said.

Despite the economic problems, South African designers remain optimistic about prospects for the fashion industry.

“ I think as local designers we are really trying to get people to shop local because I think we also deliver products that are of a high quality, then we can bring down the prices, the prices are a lot less than what you would pay for an international brand,” Julia Mpoko told reporters.

South Africa’s mens wear are competing with global brands on the market.