Fashionista says fashion is influenced by style

‘MAKERESEMESE LETUKA

MASERU – An upcoming fashionista, Tebello Zacharia, describes fashion as a form of expression and that is influenced by day to day lifestyle. Tebello owns and runs Bold Couture, a fashion brand that mostly specialize in wool products, though they still deal with other fabrics. She created this fashion brand while still studying, and started working on the brand in August 2016.

“I grew up a creative, but only realized my passion in fashion when my BComm Accounting did not work out for me at National University of Lesotho (NUL) where I was from 2014 to 2016. I needed something to make me whole, and I found it in creating garments when I was on the verge of dropping out from the NUL,” she revealed.

Tebello continued that she gets inspiration from different sources, “but my love for crocheted garments first came as a solution because I did not own a sewing machine at the time…and a hook and wool were easier to find.”

She designs all sorts of garments from pants to dresses, hats, jackets, ladies’ crop top and shorts dungarees, summers dresses, cross bodies and jerseys, her target market being mainly adults and youth because the sales are pretty good and the demand is high in them.

Tebello believes there is a huge growth in her fashion brand because she can now balance between complex designs and items that sell on a daily basis; she is now able to take even lesser time to produce what would usually take her two weeks in a number of days.

“The challenge in starting a business with pocket money, this means it will take time to grow. And every income has to be reinvested to grow the business, so my business needs a lot of patience. My success is in growth and recognition, and moving from working alone to hiring help,” she noted.

Tebello wishes and loves to one day dress some of the important names in the country – but for now she appreciates that she has worked with some of the most important people who gave her opportunities to dress them. “My aim is to own a manufacturing company and employ multitudes of people. My dream is to see the brand as one of the largest brands in the country,” she concluded.

Tebello is aged 26, and studied Fashion and Apparel Design at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. She hails from Maputsoe, in Leribe.