David Tlale joins forces with Avon to shrug off elitist tag

David Tlale’s elite designs will soon be available for the ordinary person in the streets.

This comes after one of Johannesburg’s most talented and world-renowned designers and entrepreneurs joined forces with cosmetic giant Avon to produce designer clothes, handbags and other beauty accessory products for the ordinary person.

The marriage between the two entities, Avon specialising in the mass production of cosmetics such as perfumes, lipsticks, mascara and lotions while Tlale deals mainly with designer clothes, handbags and sunglasses, was described as ‘a match made in heaven’.

Announcing the marriage at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westcliff, Avon managing director Mafahle Mareletse described Avon as a company not just big in the manufacture and distribution of cosmetics but more so in the empowerment of women on the beauty and the economic front as well.

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Avon, he said, has thousands of women countrywide that make a living in selling its products through a distribution network that has been running for close to 130 years. “Avon is a purpose-driven company that does not put profit first and if you don’t have that nowadays, you’re bound to fail. Our [Avon] ‘flirting’ with Tlale began in 2018 when I met him by chance and my wife went hysterical upon her sight of him and I wasn’t impressed.

“I also realised later when we [Avon] started ‘dating’ that it was not just my wife that had this thing about Tlale. The man was mobbed wherever he went and it dawned on me that we were in the company of greatness and that we should come together and make magic,” Mareletse said.

For his part, Tlale said the marriage will enable him to shrug off the elitist tag around his famous designs. “I will now be able to mass-produce my clothing labels, handbags, sunglasses and other beauty accessories for the ordinary person in the street,” he said.

“I will be able to develop and grow and expand the company in order to service the new clientele, not just in South Africa but the whole African continent. I will be able to empower women to make a living in selling my products through the Avon network. What more can I ask for?”