Popping the buttons

Driven by social media, pop-up shops bring edgy adventure to the retail experience, says Ziphezinhle Msimango

PALULU LOVE

The lawns of Shepstone Gardens in Mountain View, Johannesburg, are covered with racks of clothing. Edgy hipsters move between racks. They're here for the Palulu Love pop-up shopping event. Pop-up shopping, all the rage in New York, Tokyo and London since the late '90s, is now taking off in SA.

 Retailers and designers are jumping on the bandwagon, but the real trend is "shops" run by individuals. They market by word of mouth and social networks Twitter and Facebook. They bring fresh, new fashion to you and me.

Fashion publicist Palesa Mashiyane started the Palulu Love pop-up in October last year. "I make clothes and some of my friends are designers, so I said we should find a venue to sell our stuff. I put this out on Twitter and the interest was huge.

 I got 300 e-mails immediately, so I thought I should make it a proper event. I got a couple of designers for the first one at Southern Sun, who gave me space for free when I told them the concept."

A couple of weeks before each event, Mashiyane releases the date on Twitter and Facebook. People respond by e-mail, she sends invitations with the address. Today's theme is neons and pastels.

"The first one was colour blocking," says Mashiyane, "because the whole thing was to teach people about trends and introduce them to the designers. The next one was clashing prints. This is my third, and it gets bigger every time. People just love the concept."

Parooz Fashions and MJ Collection are two names on the racks. Mashiyane sells small brands that shoppers probably don't know.

"I don't like working with huge designers," she says. "They are already established. I want to help new designers. We send out a press release after the event with their names in it."

Lulama Mlambo, 19, Tumi Linx, 20, and Lee Legobane, 19, are fashion bloggers who attend regularly because they "never conform to the norm".

Student Thobeka Mqoco, 24, follows Palulu Love on Twitter. "I heard about it from a friend who has a fashion blog. The shopping vibe here is different. We can buy things that make us unique, because if there are two shirts, that's it, no one else will have them. We can get things that are in tune with international trends."

TRUNKS & CAST

It's a Sunday afternoon at Prima House in Doornfontein, where the Trunks&Cast pop-up store forms part of a hip-hop music lifestyle event called Music4Worms.

Stylist Lethabo "Boogy" Maboi, 26, and Graye Olifant, 28, an illustrator and fashion-design student, started this venture about 18 months ago, selling brands such as Babatunde, Style by Seruno and Claw. They set out their clothing in the way that people would wear it and describe their clothes as "characters on rails".

They also stock vintage items at attractive prices.

"There's an obsession with the concept of pop-up," says Maboi. "It started with people selling clothes from their cars, now it's this phenomenon. We've been doing it in South Africa for ages: no one is selling it back to us."

Trunks&Cast doesn't pop up that often because they take time to collect the right products.

Their last event, in June, was called "Fashion Night Out" at The Dance Junxion in Rosebank, where people could shop while feeling they were at a party. They keep in touch with their consumers through their blog and think mobile pop-ups will be the next big thing.

SCRABBYL

Mbali Mthethwa, 23, runs the Scrabbyl pop-up shop in the first week of every month. Today it's at the Peech Hotel in Melrose, in collaboration with Strictly KP, another pop-up brand owned by Kopano Motsoeneng, 26.

Motsoeneng sources clothes locally as well as from Africa. "I've found this company called Global Mamas in Ghana and I want to start bringing their clothing into SA."

Mthethwa, who used to do marketing for clothing store Upstairs Jozi, started Scrabbyl with her own money in April. "I wanted a way to incorporate marketing and fashion, so I started this. Designers let me take stock on consignment because I promote them through social media and at these events."

Mthethwa talks me through some of the designers on her racks. Readily Chapel was started by a designer when she was in matric. "Now she doesn't have the time to sell her clothes." She has novel necklaces from Pichulik in Cape Town and African-print garments by Hunadi.

"I source people you don't know," says Mthethwa. Her shoppers are either young professionals or older women with more buying power. Charlene Wilson, 37, arrives with her friend Monique du Plessis, 39.

Wilson says: "I got an e-mail saying that there was going to be a pop-up shop here today and I live around the corner so I decided to come check it out. I like clothing that is different, not mainstream. I want to be unique."

Shopper Lindelwa Skenjana, 24, says: "I don't like malls." She buys a dress and leaves wearing it, because when she shops here, she can do that.