When one hears the word boutique store they usually picture a small store in the suburbs selling fashionable clothes to the rich and famous; entrepreneur Lesego Ditshwene is on a mission to change that perception.
Ditshwene, a Wits Business School and AAA School of Advertising graduate, recently launched the Kasi boutique located in the heart of Alexandra Township, Johannesburg.
The store which is situated right next to his popular lounge/chill spot (ko 9) opened its doors to the public last week with great reception from the public.
“We sold 70% of items we had in the store on the opening day”, says Ditshwene.
“You get people coming in to have a look at the clothes and see our prices, a day or two later they return to buy something.”
The idea for the boutique came up after Ditshwene had a discussion with the designers of the street wear brand Thesis.
“We started talking and that’s where I saw that there’s an opportunity to open a store like this in Alex”, he says.
“The idea with Kasi boutique is to create a retail platform for local designers because you sometimes find that designers have good products but they don’t have access to the market.”
“So what we do is say fine, we’ll create a platform for you guys to bring your stuff and we’ll give you access to the market,” he adds.
“We negotiate directly with the designers and agree on prices with them. We can either agree to pay for the products upfront or pay a fee on each item sold.”
“We negotiate based on where the guys are in their entrepreneurial journey.”
According Ditshwene, the Alex based boutique is the flagship store, from there he plans to identify locations and roll out to other townships such as Tembisa, Daveyton, Mamelodi and Katlehong.
“We currently have clothing from 88 Apparel (owned by footballer Reneilwe Lesholonyane), Thesis and Elements of truth. There’s also a sock brand called Feat Sock Company.”
Ditshwene is a true believer in learning from past experiences, something he hopes young entrepreneurs can emulate.
“To be an entrepreneur is not just about saying you want to do this because you want to make money. You are going to suffer a lot. This is maybe my 9 or 12 initiative in terms of being an entrepreneur. I started doing stuff on the side while I was a full time employee but now I’m fully focused on my own businesses.”
“If you have an idea and it makes sense to you, don’t wait, just go for it; the only way to know whether it’s legit or not is for you to implement it and learn from it.”
“After 6 months or six years if you have to close down the business, two things will have happened. You would have learned from it and if fortunate you would have made a bit of money.”
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