Say what you mean to say

JOHANNESBURG – The T-Shirt has come a long way since it was first worn as underwear in the 19^th century. Later, popularised by sailors, miners, mechanics and labourers, it was in World War 2 when American soldiers first introduced the notion of the T-Shirt as a casual, outerwear garment.

Couple that movement with the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando sporting crisp white Tees in their cult movies and it’s no surprise that the T-Shirt is now the most common garment found in people’s wardrobes worldwide. It was in the Sixties though that the T-Shirt as a political and personal statement came to the fore and since then, the wave has simply gained momentum. Who can forget George Michael and his ‘choose Life’ Tee with its classic Eighties box cut?  A certain icon of the times.

Nowadays, the T-Shirt is what the bumper sticker was to the 80’s (albeit an altogether more stylish one). Whether you choose to sport a Tee bearing Madiba’s face, a tongue-in-cheek slogan, an instantly recogniseable brand logo or a graphic image depicting an interest or sports team, your T-Shirt choice is your personal and portable bumper sticker – saying what you want to say about yourself without having to open your mouth.

No South African company knows this better than Big Blue. The 27-year-old fashion brand started off small selling their handmade wares at the Market Theatre flea market in Johannesburg and has morphed into one of the country’s most recognisable fashion labels and conduits for saying what you want to say.  Go to any concert, mall or morning on the beach and you’ll be bound to spot a Big Blue Tee or three. Known for their tongue-in-cheek slogans that often reference the South African zeitgeist, their iconic graphic emblems – from Zambuk tins to Madiba and of course, their flattering fits, Big Blue T-Shirts are big news on the SA casual fashion scene.

Another company that is all too aware of the power of the T-Shirt as talking point is Holmes Bros. This Durban-based company has been working with Big Blue for 20-odd years, collaborating with them on some of their iconic designs. More recently they branched out on their own as well – and with three stand-alone stores, they’re equally tapped into what’s happening on the T-Shirt scene.

Says co-owner Laurie Holmes “whereas Big Blue T-Shirts are very much about seeing the humour in the South African context, often with a dose of reference to our Afrikaans and African heritages, our designs tend to be a little more serious, more design driven and most importantly for us, with our brand name very prominent. The Big Blue brand stays away from this but we tend to make sure our brand name is prominent.”

And its clear both approaches work well. Big Blue for example has around 18 000 T-Shirts on their shop shelves at any one time, with around 50 top T-Shirt sellers in the range. Another 200 are repeat designs and a further 200 are in trial phase

The challenge in a world dominated by click-and-share instantaneousness, says Big Blue co-owner James Robertson is staying relevant and when it comes to T-Shirts, this is a subject he is passionate about.

“The real zeitgeist is what people are feeling simultaneously and spontaneously, rather than what is being fed to them, he says. “Our customers are intelligent, they all have Pinterest and well-meaning friends, so they decide the most flattering colour, style, fabric or garment for themselves, we try to make sure what they want is available to them. Also I think that South Africans are not afraid of colour, so we can look at brighter colours that whatever a forecaster in dreary Europe is telling us to wear.”

Absolutely allergic to the official international fashion trend forecasts that are released seasonally, he prefers to keep his ear to the ground and his eyes peeled. James and the team mine the valuable feedback from the brand’s 2500 daily customers and hone the information they receives from what’s happening in the fashion world to fit the Big Blue sensibility “at the moment the colour that we’re being told is ‘now’ is neon coral but it’s not a flattering colour for all skin tones, and it’s ugly. So it’s not going to happen,” he laughs. Laurie on the other hand, says Holmes Bros designs are definitely influenced by international trends “but we prefer to give whatever’s happening on the international scene our own South African twist and after five years, we’re still trawling the Eighties for inspiration,” he adds. The result is two players who are helping to provide South African consumers with options as to how they choose to express themselves through the T-Shirts they wear.

So what are South Africans buying? With some 200 designs in circulation at any one time, it’s interesting to discover what the popular sellers are at Big Blue. It’s clear that as a nation, we’re proud to be African “the continent of Africa is a good seller, and even though it has now been done by so many other retailers, people still come to us for it. It’s a good strong graphic,” says James. Other popular designs include those that feature Nelson Mandela’s face (“although copyright issues are a minefield so we’re steering clear of that nowadays”) and T-Shirts with a ‘feel good factor’, something that may have an amusing graphic or slogan that makes people feel good about themselves, he says. It seems South Africans like to portray an air of positivity through the T-Shirts they wear – rather than being outwardly provocative and political, saying something in a subtle way seems to be the SA way.

One the subject of keeping things local from start to finish, both T-Shirt gurus have plenty to say, both insisting that they will always work with local suppliers. “There’s no denying that working with Chinese manufacturers would make things easier but we just feel that its our way of ensuring that we support local industry as much as possible,” says Laurie. It’s clear that James agrees wholeheartedly with this notion, “our focus is on sustainable jobs by only producing our clothing here. We support design schools, new designers, artisan dye houses, block printers and small business screen printers – we like working with owners who are as passionate about their product as we are about ours,” he says.

Staying current is obviously a challenge in the fickle fashion world and one has to accept the successes with the not-so-successful designs. “We used to do some extreme shock value T-Shirts, to push the boundaries and get noticed as a store,” says James who explains that things are a lot more pared down and more sophisticated nowadays.

“We try to employ younger designers to try to stay relevant and we love working with the start up brands who approach us. If need be, we offer assistance by either producing for them, financing their production, or offering attractive payment terms. Often a brilliant and fresh concept will come from someone who is not in the clothing business at all but wishes to be, or just want to see their idea “out there”. Big Blue also offers an annual T-Shirt design competition –“we had more than 1200 designs for the competition in we ran in 2013.”

For Laurie, moving some of their retail focus to the online space is critical to their expansion and a new development is an introduction of a kiddies range. “We did our research and there really seemed to be a gap for cheeky Tees for kids – if the parents are loving our T-Shirts, it stands to good reason that they’ll want their kids in them too,” he says.

While international ‘bling name brands’ are certainly gaining foothold in South Africa, it seems the desire to keep things real by referencing our roots, unique sense of humour and turns of phrase remains a constant. And thanks to Big Blue, thousands of South Africans are able to do this on a daily basis, simply by slipping a T-Shirt over their heads.