Shanay branches into merchandising
Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday June 20, 2017 18:00
The rapper, who has not been fully active in the rap game lately, has launched his clothing brand, which has a variety of clothing apparel. “This is an urban lifestyle clothing line that incorporates casual and sports wear. We are still waiting for the sports wear samples. At the moment we have the casual wear outfits that range from t-shirts, sweaters, vests and shorts. We cater for both men and women,” Shanay told Showbiz in an interview.
The Get In Lit clothing line was recently launched at Chez Nicolas and had a number of designed t- shirts and other outfits. Shanay noted that he conceptualised the clothing label and venturing into fashion was part of his plans. He said the label’s name was inspired by the word Lit because it is being used by many urbanites when they are referring to something that is great or good-looking.
“We tried to come up with something relevant and also move with the times. I am growing as an artist and I want to leave something as a legacy, which is why I came up with this project. I am looking forward to helping upcoming artists with the profits,” he highlighted.
The Merwalela rapper noted that he will be opening the first shop at Molapo Crossing Mall at a date yet to be announced. Shanay has a creative team that he is working with on his new venture. As a way of promoting the clothing line, Shanay also released a song titled After the label.
“With our sports wear we are looking forward to producing football apparel. We had plans of sponsoring the Botswana netball national team for the upcoming World Cup but due to certain logistics we did not manage” he said.
The trend of merchandising and entrepreneurship is growing amongst local rappers especially artists who have been in the industry for a long time.
“It took long for us to venture into the business side because we relied on promoters who let us down thinking that they will book us. We woke up later and decided to venture into other businesses so we can be able to survive,” said Shanay.
With time the rapper noted that he will increase the number of stores and build brand affiliations.