SHOPPING: No business like showroom business

Andrea Nagel: "All non-commercial fashion designers in this country have the same story," says Dirk de Waal, who started his career in fashion more than 10 years ago.

"Since the recession a lot of local designers can't afford to have their own stores. They can't survive with their clothes in multi-brand stores on consignment either because if the stock sits there and doesn't sell they have no funds to produce further collections."

De Waal, who recently launched THEWHTBOX, a monthly showroom for designers, moved from designing into the fashion-show industry eight years ago and has worked on more than 400 projects across three continents as a project manager and show director at Jan Malan Umzingeli Productions.

He has travelled and worked in more than 14 sub-Saharan countries, directing fashion shows, and in Mozambique and Angola he organised workshops for designers to help them develop their fashion lines into businesses. If it involves fashion, you name it, he's done it.

De Waal's showroom was born out of the idea that designers from around the country should have a space to show their new collections for a limited time.

"We do all the marketing, which is very important because local designers usually don't have a marketing team at their disposal. We are motivated because THEWHTBOX charges designers according to their sales."

The difference between De Waal's showroom and multi-label stores like YDE and The Space is that the showroom is a focused store where the designs are curated.

"It's a different experience all the time," says De Waal. Each customer gets personalised attention.

The current collection - on show last weekend and again on Friday and Saturday - is the Maya Prass Johannesburg Trunkshow: "The spectacular adventures of Maya's magical travelling tapestry."

"Having this collection in the showroom during Joburg Fashion Week [last week] was a deliberate decision," says De Waal.

"Maya Prass hasn't had a collection in a fashion show for almost two years. She's one of many local designers moving away from involvement with fashion shows.

"It's too expensive to manufacture a show collection . Designers are becoming more business-minded, realising that they can sell more from the hanger to focus ed buyers interested in fewer looks resulting in a smaller collection of practical outfits.

"Fashion shows are more about entertainment than sales," he continues. "Chanel shows, for example, cost millions to produce.

"Big fashion weeks are about publicity but they aren't always practical. [Last week, we saw] winter collections and the designers have struggled to source winter weight fabrics in the heat of summer, so the collections end up being more transitional.

"In SA Fashion Week in March, we'll see next summer's collections. This gives the magazines lead time to get the clothes onto their pages by the start of next summer."

According to de Waal, Joburg Fashion Week was all about glitz and glamour.

"It's all sequins and feathers," he says. "SA Fashion Week has a different flavour. It's innovative and thought-provoking.

"My aim with THEWHTBOX is to move away from all the bullsh*t in the industry to make a space where customers can connect with designers in a way that doesn't happen in retail spaces or during fashion shows," he says.

• The showroom is open from 10am on Friday and Saturday at Unit 20, The Refinery, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. For further information, contact Dirk on 079-693-3306.