Dressing street-wear enthusiasts
Da Broad Wear is the heavily sought-after street-wear brand that has infiltrated the scene in recent years.
With plans at an advanced stage to launch their website, tjil sat down with Da Broad Wear founder Carlos de Oliveira to discuss how this brand is changing the narrative of street wear in Namibia. Oliveira defines street wear as casual clothing of a style worn especially by members of various urban youth subcultures, a market he says he caters for. Da Broad Wear offers caps, hoodies, shorts and T-shirts.
Founded two years ago, the brand has rapidly grown and has been the reference point for many street-wear enthusiasts in the entertainment and fashion scene of Namibia. “The word is actually abroad, I just spiced it up a little bit to add that street flair to it. It is stylish and for everybody.
“Even though we only officially infiltrated the market two years ago, prior to that I was doing research for about three years because I wanted to understand the needs of the market and cater to it accordingly,” said De Oliveira.
De Oliveira shared that Da Broad Wear consists of five members who design, market and supply the streets with the clothes. Their suppliers are based in Cape Town but the designs and final putting together of the apparel is done here in Namibia. Speaking on the inspiration of the designs, the founder shared that they like monitoring fashion trends among young people and coming up with exciting designs that are embraced by many street-wear lovers. “Young people are our go-to in terms of finding out what is trending in the streets because they are always online and are always watching music videos. Young people are also experimental when it comes to putting outfits together, they are the real taste makers,” said De Oliveira.
The brand took part in Windhoek Fashion Week last year, an experience De Oliveira described as a good platform that allowed them to showcase their designs to the masses. “Windhoek Fashion Week was an amazing experience and we are looking forward to still take part this year. We are a street-wear brand thus when we infiltrate platforms of that big magnitude; it means a lot to me and the brand as a whole,” he said. De Oliveira mentioned that one of the strategies the brand uses to be viable in the market is working with media personalities, dressing them for events, music videos and more. “This year we dressed award-winning rapper D-Jay for his album cover photo shoot. It was a fruitful collaboration because he exposed us to his fan base,” said De Oliveira, adding that having good working relationship with artists and media personalities helps a lot in exposing the brand to the masses.
Voicing his view on street wear in Namibia, De Oliveira said a lot of brands start out by purchasing a bunch of shirts and printing them, which he maintains is okay for starters but investing back in the brand and coming up with quality material should be prioritised. “We all started somewhere but it is disrespect to your customers when you do not invest back into your brand to supply them with better quality. The goal is to keep growing and for the latest material to always be better than the previous one,” he said.
De Oliveira attributes the growth of Da Broad Wear to investing back into the brand and doing things differently. He mentioned that the brand has people in South Africa, Angola and Germany who are responsible for infiltrating the market in those countries. He added that people should know that Da Broad Wear is a Namibian brand but it is stepping outside. “We are local but our aim is to be recognised outside as well, that is why we have people pushing our stuff in other countries. “Selling our clothes in other countries for us isn't just a marketing ploy; we have the dream to make it big outside the country. We are sharing Namibian style one country at a time,” he added.
He stated that from the feedback that they receive from the consumers, he believes what makes Da Broad Wear stand out is the quality of the clothes. “We try to pride ourselves in only supplying the market with high quality products. We do not want to sell dreams to people so we strive to satisfy our customers by selling them good quality,” he said.
He announced that Da Boad Wear will be launching its website soon. This is to make it easier for people to purchase the clothes online. De Oliveira further revealed that they will be having pop-up shops at different events in efforts to make the clothes more accessible. “We want people to have a one-on-one with the designers and I believe pop-up shops will make this easier. We would have opened a physical store but we just fear that is not a smart business choice at this point,” said De Oliveira.
Venturing into another element of street wear, De Oliveira shared that the brand is looking into adding customised denims to their range. He mentioned that they have started making these denims already; however they are yet to start producing them in high volumes. “With the denims we are open to people bringing us their denims and we just customise them, the same with sneakers; we customise sneakers too,” he shared.
Despite the success of the brand, De Oliveira admitted that Da Broad Wear has had its own fair share of ups and downs. He pointed out the lack of sufficient finances as one of the challenges that the brand has endured and to a certain degree is still going through. “We are in business with suppliers who prefer selling their material in bulk so we have always had a challenge because we have to wait until we have enough to buy in bulk which in the process slows down our business.”
MICHAEL KAYUNDE
Founded two years ago, the brand has rapidly grown and has been the reference point for many street-wear enthusiasts in the entertainment and fashion scene of Namibia. “The word is actually abroad, I just spiced it up a little bit to add that street flair to it. It is stylish and for everybody.
“Even though we only officially infiltrated the market two years ago, prior to that I was doing research for about three years because I wanted to understand the needs of the market and cater to it accordingly,” said De Oliveira.
De Oliveira shared that Da Broad Wear consists of five members who design, market and supply the streets with the clothes. Their suppliers are based in Cape Town but the designs and final putting together of the apparel is done here in Namibia. Speaking on the inspiration of the designs, the founder shared that they like monitoring fashion trends among young people and coming up with exciting designs that are embraced by many street-wear lovers. “Young people are our go-to in terms of finding out what is trending in the streets because they are always online and are always watching music videos. Young people are also experimental when it comes to putting outfits together, they are the real taste makers,” said De Oliveira.
The brand took part in Windhoek Fashion Week last year, an experience De Oliveira described as a good platform that allowed them to showcase their designs to the masses. “Windhoek Fashion Week was an amazing experience and we are looking forward to still take part this year. We are a street-wear brand thus when we infiltrate platforms of that big magnitude; it means a lot to me and the brand as a whole,” he said. De Oliveira mentioned that one of the strategies the brand uses to be viable in the market is working with media personalities, dressing them for events, music videos and more. “This year we dressed award-winning rapper D-Jay for his album cover photo shoot. It was a fruitful collaboration because he exposed us to his fan base,” said De Oliveira, adding that having good working relationship with artists and media personalities helps a lot in exposing the brand to the masses.
Voicing his view on street wear in Namibia, De Oliveira said a lot of brands start out by purchasing a bunch of shirts and printing them, which he maintains is okay for starters but investing back in the brand and coming up with quality material should be prioritised. “We all started somewhere but it is disrespect to your customers when you do not invest back into your brand to supply them with better quality. The goal is to keep growing and for the latest material to always be better than the previous one,” he said.
De Oliveira attributes the growth of Da Broad Wear to investing back into the brand and doing things differently. He mentioned that the brand has people in South Africa, Angola and Germany who are responsible for infiltrating the market in those countries. He added that people should know that Da Broad Wear is a Namibian brand but it is stepping outside. “We are local but our aim is to be recognised outside as well, that is why we have people pushing our stuff in other countries. “Selling our clothes in other countries for us isn't just a marketing ploy; we have the dream to make it big outside the country. We are sharing Namibian style one country at a time,” he added.
He stated that from the feedback that they receive from the consumers, he believes what makes Da Broad Wear stand out is the quality of the clothes. “We try to pride ourselves in only supplying the market with high quality products. We do not want to sell dreams to people so we strive to satisfy our customers by selling them good quality,” he said.
He announced that Da Boad Wear will be launching its website soon. This is to make it easier for people to purchase the clothes online. De Oliveira further revealed that they will be having pop-up shops at different events in efforts to make the clothes more accessible. “We want people to have a one-on-one with the designers and I believe pop-up shops will make this easier. We would have opened a physical store but we just fear that is not a smart business choice at this point,” said De Oliveira.
Venturing into another element of street wear, De Oliveira shared that the brand is looking into adding customised denims to their range. He mentioned that they have started making these denims already; however they are yet to start producing them in high volumes. “With the denims we are open to people bringing us their denims and we just customise them, the same with sneakers; we customise sneakers too,” he shared.
Despite the success of the brand, De Oliveira admitted that Da Broad Wear has had its own fair share of ups and downs. He pointed out the lack of sufficient finances as one of the challenges that the brand has endured and to a certain degree is still going through. “We are in business with suppliers who prefer selling their material in bulk so we have always had a challenge because we have to wait until we have enough to buy in bulk which in the process slows down our business.”
MICHAEL KAYUNDE
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