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FIBONACCI APPAREL: BACK 2 BASICS
By Thandeka Khoza
MBABANE—Fibonacci Apparel is a fashion brand that has been slowly making its mark on the country’s fashion scene. Established officially in 2018 with the intention of creatively improving on designs they saw in stores, the brand is now on a mission to reinforce that ideal as an effort to anchor their artistic identity in the industry, and have it shine throughout all phases of their evolution.
The earliest incarnation of the company was actually in 2016. At that time it was called “Swag Syndrome”, and it was a collective made of photographers, graphic designers, models, and a tailor, named Tshuku; whom they had outsourced since neither of the founders had yet learned how to sew.
Clifford Dludlu, one of the founding members of the collective, explained “if we weren’t making it [the clothes] straight from scratch, we’d always be tailoring something that’s already made into maybe adding an extra pocket. That’s when maybe we started falling in love with it and then that’s when Patch decided he doesn’t want to outsource, he’d like to learn how to do it.” Patch, who is now the senior tailor at Fibonacci, soon started his own tailoring business called “Fits by Patch” some time in late 2017, where he made custom pieces for clients. Dludlu says, “I came back from my first semester break [from university] and he shows me one his first few designs he had already made…I think it was a windbreaker”. As he recalls it, that windbreaker would be the first piece that would have the name “Fibonacci” on it.
As the business progressed, they found themselves mainly having to focus on dropping collections and capsules, which are basically more standard cuts and types of clothing that people are familiar with. Dludlu, who presently acts as the brand manager and director explains, “we’d make a typical t-shirt as you know it, as opposed to what we used to do when we started; which was if we want to make a sleeve 5 inches we’ll make it 5 inches; [but] just because we know it, doesn’t mean we have to make it like that”. Basically, client preferences became important so as to build a proper customer base and just keep their business running. Now that they are on this journey of regaining self in art, they have been attempting to strike that balance between how they express themselves as a fashion house and addressing customer’s expectations.
One of the ways they plan to apply this desire for self-expression is by fully embodying the Fibonacci principle that inspired the label’s name. As Dludlu explains it, “if you look at what math is in the sense of Fibonacci, is the sequence of endless numbers, right? So what we do and how it aligns to what we do with clothing is instead of it being infinite numbers, it’s the infinite possibilities of what we do with material”. The upcoming collection of varsity jackets aims to introduce this concept very well. Dludlu says the pieces are “the doorway to showing people that this is what you know traditionally a varsity jacket to look like, but this is what we envision it to be and this is what we want to offer you”.
By Thandeka Khoza
MBABANE—Fibonacci Apparel is a fashion brand that has been slowly making its mark on the country’s fashion scene. Established officially in 2018 with the intention of creatively improving on designs they saw in stores, the brand is now on a mission to reinforce that ideal as an effort to anchor their artistic identity in the industry, and have it shine throughout all phases of their evolution.
The earliest incarnation of the company was actually in 2016. At that time it was called “Swag Syndrome”, and it was a collective made of photographers, graphic designers, models, and a tailor, named Tshuku; whom they had outsourced since neither of the founders had yet learned how to sew.
Clifford Dludlu, one of the founding members of the collective, explained “if we weren’t making it [the clothes] straight from scratch, we’d always be tailoring something that’s already made into maybe adding an extra pocket. That’s when maybe we started falling in love with it and then that’s when Patch decided he doesn’t want to outsource, he’d like to learn how to do it.” Patch, who is now the senior tailor at Fibonacci, soon started his own tailoring business called “Fits by Patch” some time in late 2017, where he made custom pieces for clients. Dludlu says, “I came back from my first semester break [from university] and he shows me one his first few designs he had already made…I think it was a windbreaker”. As he recalls it, that windbreaker would be the first piece that would have the name “Fibonacci” on it.
As the business progressed, they found themselves mainly having to focus on dropping collections and capsules, which are basically more standard cuts and types of clothing that people are familiar with. Dludlu, who presently acts as the brand manager and director explains, “we’d make a typical t-shirt as you know it, as opposed to what we used to do when we started; which was if we want to make a sleeve 5 inches we’ll make it 5 inches; [but] just because we know it, doesn’t mean we have to make it like that”. Basically, client preferences became important so as to build a proper customer base and just keep their business running. Now that they are on this journey of regaining self in art, they have been attempting to strike that balance between how they express themselves as a fashion house and addressing customer’s expectations.
One of the ways they plan to apply this desire for self-expression is by fully embodying the Fibonacci principle that inspired the label’s name. As Dludlu explains it, “if you look at what math is in the sense of Fibonacci, is the sequence of endless numbers, right? So what we do and how it aligns to what we do with clothing is instead of it being infinite numbers, it’s the infinite possibilities of what we do with material”. The upcoming collection of varsity jackets aims to introduce this concept very well. Dludlu says the pieces are “the doorway to showing people that this is what you know traditionally a varsity jacket to look like, but this is what we envision it to be and this is what we want to offer you”.
FIBONACCI APPAREL: BACK 2 BASICS
By Thandeka Khoza
MBABANE—Fibonacci Apparel is a fashion brand that has been slowly making its mark on the country’s fashion scene. Established officially in 2018 with the intention of creatively improving on designs they saw in stores, the brand is now on a mission to reinforce that ideal as an effort to anchor their artistic identity in the industry, and have it shine throughout all phases of their evolution.
The earliest incarnation of the company was actually in 2016. At that time it was called “Swag Syndrome”, and it was a collective made of photographers, graphic designers, models, and a tailor, named Tshuku; whom they had outsourced since neither of the founders had yet learned how to sew.
Clifford Dludlu, one of the founding members of the collective, explained “if we weren’t making it [the clothes] straight from scratch, we’d always be tailoring something that’s already made into maybe adding an extra pocket. That’s when maybe we started falling in love with it and then that’s when Patch decided he doesn’t want to outsource, he’d like to learn how to do it.” Patch, who is now the senior tailor at Fibonacci, soon started his own tailoring business called “Fits by Patch” some time in late 2017, where he made custom pieces for clients. Dludlu says, “I came back from my first semester break [from university] and he shows me one his first few designs he had already made…I think it was a windbreaker”. As he recalls it, that windbreaker would be the first piece that would have the name “Fibonacci” on it.
As the business progressed, they found themselves mainly having to focus on dropping collections and capsules, which are basically more standard cuts and types of clothing that people are familiar with. Dludlu, who presently acts as the brand manager and director explains, “we’d make a typical t-shirt as you know it, as opposed to what we used to do when we started; which was if we want to make a sleeve 5 inches we’ll make it 5 inches; [but] just because we know it, doesn’t mean we have to make it like that”. Basically, client preferences became important so as to build a proper customer base and just keep their business running. Now that they are on this journey of regaining self in art, they have been attempting to strike that balance between how they express themselves as a fashion house and addressing customer’s expectations.
One of the ways they plan to apply this desire for self-expression is by fully embodying the Fibonacci principle that inspired the label’s name. As Dludlu explains it, “if you look at what math is in the sense of Fibonacci, is the sequence of endless numbers, right? So what we do and how it aligns to what we do with clothing is instead of it being infinite numbers, it’s the infinite possibilities of what we do with material”. The upcoming collection of varsity jackets aims to introduce this concept very well. Dludlu says the pieces are “the doorway to showing people that this is what you know traditionally a varsity jacket to look like, but this is what we envision it to be and this is what we want to offer you”.
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