Who is the Founder and CEO of Imprintza? Imprint was founded by Mzukisi Mbane. A self taught fashion designer and Bachelor of Accounting Science graduate who holds the position of both CEO and Creative Director. Born and raised in Cape Town, fashion has always been my thing, I’ve always loved the idea of exploring and experimenting and it was just a matter of time before I gave in to my calling of being a fashion creative. When was Imprintza founded ? Imprint was officially founded in 2015 when I got an opportunity to be at the Design Indaba as an Emerging creative 2015. Before then I had created a brand called Swagger Diaries, a brand I thought could carry the vision I had for my life in fashion. However when the Design Indaba opportunity came through I had to sit down and ask myself important questions which lead to the birth of Imprint. A brand that not only creates fashion forward bold pieces that Imprints on people but a brand that imprinted itself on me. A brand aesthetic and identity that chose me. What was the inspiration behind your Brand? Imprint always draws from the history, glamour and anything significant to our shared African Identity. When I came up with the brand I adopted the concept of FUBU (for us by us). I wanted us as Africans to have a shared
experience, shared identity and I wanted us to define our own narrative. Africans telling our own story and with the futuristic element creating a new story for the next generation. I was also bothered by our African print identity and the various stories attached to it. I started designing prints because I believe we can have African print stories that are purely about us and have no links to colonization. Where is Imprintza headed, future wise? Imprint is the future I believe. And I also see the brandbeing a household brand not just in Africa but across the pond as well. The future is Africa to the world and us actually owning a huge chunk of that. And that’s where Imprint fits in. The international African heritage brand. With so much competition in the fashion industry and the current world economic state. Considering the Covid-19 pandemic. How do you as Mzukisi keep inspired during tough times? I will not lie it’s been a process, especially with COVID a lot had to change. But for me tapping into the short fashion film we shot with the Zebra print collection. It was a matter of me going back and having to remember why I do what I do. And I always go back to something I said in my first show for Mercedes Benz Cape Town Fashion Week and the words are “my story
has a beginning where it all begins with a single root my mother. As her son Istood in her shoes as big as they were to my tiny feet until I could stand on my own and dance to her lullaby “ These words remind me that I was once smaller than I am right now and I have grown to create amazing things which means there is absolutely nothing I can’t get over Who is the Imprintza brand for, Who was it specifically designed for? Imprint is for a very wide diverse client base. Our clothes at their national form are gender neutral and then from there we see certain silhouettes being developed and elongated to create gender specific pieces. Where can the Imprintza boutique be found and what is the price range? We are currently selling at Africa Rise store at 66 Anderson Street JHB and also Africa Rise Store in Sandton city. We also sell from Cape Town from our store in Woodstock: 349 Albert Road Woodstock as well as the VnA Waterfront lower ground floor opposite Woolworths. People can also shop from our soon to launch store www.ImprintSouthAfrica.co.za Considering that we have approached the spring-summer in SA. What was the inspiration for you S/S 2021 collection? With the pandemic I was very inspired by the root to everything that we do. And that was color. The collection has a mix of bright colors and neon print. I believe color represents a beautiful beginning, a reborn of some sort. It inspires a positive mood. And I believe a mix of color best describes our diverse mixed races and heritage.