Zero Moving Towards 100K

Actively Pursing Dreams

It all started a couple of years ago. I had my first fashion idea. I thought what if I started an ecommerce platform that would let independent designers sell their street wear designs. The designers wouldn't have to worry about packaging and logistics because we would take care of all of that at a fraction of their sale of an item.

My partners and I managed to register the company, had a couple of productive meetings but in the end didn't manage to get started.

I had even given it a go at designing tshirts, those were quite embarrassing if you ask me.

Here I am once again with another idea in the fashion space. One day I got home from work and felt like messing around with some designs, disclaimer the only real design experience I have I got in the 11th grade when I volunteered at a media company, then I wrote "BLKLA" in the megrim font and I was in love. That's honestly where the idea started. BLKLA pronounced Black LA. I used this design, which is now the official logo, to design a couple of tshirts and I was happy with the results. That was in March earlier this year.

Months after the inception of the idea I have decided to actually commit to making the brand happen and have just recently sold my first batch of items.

L.A. are my initials, my names are Lethabo Albert. I have started putting a lot of effort into thinking about where to take the brand and I am not yet scratching the surface. Thinking through what products the brand will be selling, where it will be operating and where it will deliver to. An enormous amount of work still needs to go in, so I have decided to have the name of the brand carry my initials as a sign of my commitment to making it successful.

Everytime I read that vision I get a bit fearful of how big that vision is but more than anything I also get excited. The thought of giving it a go wins over my fear of failing everytime.

How do I plan on achieving this vision? I don’t know yet but I am ready to explore the different avenues. However what I do know is, in order to make it happen I need to start, I am now a great believer in just getting started. Having a minimum viable product is great starting point. I have recently done that and will be publishing a Medium article about it soon.

I am planning to use all that I have learned in the past 2 years working in the digital space to move the brand towards its vision and mission.

BLKLA will be working towards the following long term goals for the next 5 years:

Sell 100 000 items.
Deliver to 10 countries.
Reach 3 continents.
Have an average rating of 4/5 for our products and customer service.

The aim is to use digital technology such as social media, CMS and eCommerce platforms to work towards attaining these goals. Since these goals are huge there will be a need to break them down to smaller chunks that will allow me and BLKLA’s future team to achieve these goals.

I know I am crazy for starting a fashion brand but I am super excited. I currently live and work on the lovely island of Mauritius. The island which is a great place to launch BLKLA because of the thriving textile industry in the country.

If you are interested in partnering up with BLKLA or just want to find out more email lethabo@blkla.co.za and for finding out how you can gear up! with our classic tshirt send an email to gearup@blkla.co.za.

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