SVOSVA: TRY ME AND YOU’LL SEE
Gravesend-based Afrocentric brand SVOSVA is pouring culture and heritage into its unique streetwear designs
Watching another Kent-based business enterprise event video on YouTube, (hey, what I do in my own time doesn’t concern you), the symmetrical logo of a brand I’d never heard of immediately caught my eye. Hailing from Gravesend, SVOSVA (@svosva) sparkled in an otherwise meh sea of smiling faces and best-foot-forward talking heads.
“Everyone has got their own pronunciation of it and I don’t mind that, to be honest,” says SVOSVA creator Tadiwanashe Gudza. “It’s my dad’s middle name.”
Coming from South African and Zimbabwean heritage, Tadi asked her family exactly what it meant.
“It means ‘Try me and you’ll see’, which was really fitting.”
Having left university with a degree in mechanical engineering, Tadi knew two things: one, that she didn’t want to do anything in mechanical engineering, and, two, that she wanted to be her own boss.
“I was just kind of floating, not really knowing what I was going to do,” she says. “At the time, my brother Simba wanted me to customise his clothes for him, so he came up with this idea and asked if I could do it. It was these bleached T-shirts. And I did it for him and posted it on social media, and someone popped up and said ‘Oh, can you do me one?’. And that’s just how it started.”
Fast-forward four years and the current collection has been refined, crafted and released, with a stunning photoshoot at Chiddingstone Castle in west Kent.
“Initially the clothing was more affordable because of the manufacturing route I was intending on taking,” Tadi explains. “But my research told me there was no point creating an independent brand and competing on pricing with big brands.
“So, instead I wanted to try to tap more into the contemporary, not quite luxury, price point. And it was at that point I had more of an idea of where I wanted to take the brand.”
LEARNING THE PROCESS
There aren’t many independent businesses out there who haven’t made a few mistakes on the road to success and Tadi, who now works with a manufacturer in Italy, is quick to point out the steep learning curve that has been undertaken to develop SVOSVA.
“I have lost money through dealing with manufacturers who aren’t the best,” she says. “And I blame myself because I cheated and was being lazy. Instead of learning the process and sourcing the materials myself, I was just relying on them to do everything. But now, I’m right in there, involved. I’ve been out to Italy and it has made a world of difference to the whole process.
“I will tell her [the manufacturer] exactly how I want the garment. That might be sending her a pattern template or sending her a physical garment that has been made the way they want them to make it.
“During the process of starting the brand I learned to sew - I thought it was really important you understand the different elements. So you can understand when someone is talking about a ‘cover stitch’. You don’t want to not know what that is.”
Describing the brand as a contemporary streetwear house, Tadi explains that SVOSVA is designed to offer more than just a transactional relationship with its customers.
“You would expect quality when you receive the clothing,” she says. “It’s not like shopping and you receive a poly mailer. You have an experience. We ordered in boxes for our products to arrive in and it took a lot of time making the website look exactly how I wanted it to.”
SVOSVA is described as “an embodiment of culture and power”, which is in turn broken down:
“Culture pertains to heritage and imprint. Power pertains to the ideology of an infinite number of seats at the table”.
“Also, the way people feel when they look at the brand, I want them to understand where I come from,” says Tadi. “Especially with this latest collection, I wanted it to be an embodiment of Afrocentrism and futurism. But in a way that everyone can wear it and not feel like they aren’t included.”
Using UK cottons and printers, as well as silks from Asia, each of the pieces has its place within the SVOSVA identity.
“The collection I have out now, I feel it’s like the core collection that’s always going to be available,” says Tadi. “But I will be adding to it and then deciding what I keep and don’t.”
A pop-up shop in Oxford Street back in November proved a success in creating the experience that Tadi wants to surround the brand.
“That was really fun. I want to do more like that,” she says. “It wasn’t just about shopping my brand, it was also about enjoying music from my culture as well.
”South African house music, amapiano, is blowing up a bit in the UK. A guy walked into the store because he heard it being played down the road,” says Tadi. “And seeing other cultures coming into the store because of the music… we knew how good the music was and always wanted to share it with the world.
“I’m happy that I’ve put that influence into my brand.”
INFO: www.svosva.com
