‘Fashion imprinted itself on me’ - Imprint’s Mzukisi Mbane on his Afro-Futuristic Pan-African fashion brand
Mzukisi Mbane, the founder and Creative Director of a fashion and lifestyle brand called Imprint South Africa, is a self-taught fashion designer who has rocked the African fashion scene.
He’s dressed international stars like Billy Porter and Jidenna as well as local celebrities like Nomzamo Mbatha, Dj Zinhle, Pearl Thusi and the late Connie Chuime to name a few.
The Cape Town-born designer says that being the youngest of five children allowed him the luxury of being able to play, explore and fall in love with fashion.
“I think I’ve always known that I’m a born creative, I’ve always loved fashion,” says Mbane.
However, he studied Bcom accounting at the University of the Western Cape but was always the odd one out in class.
“I straight out looked more like an art student than a student in the accounting and finance fields. I remember in high school reading an article titled ‘Thanks to Kanye West now real men can wear pink’ and thinking I want to be responsible for such a cultural shift one day, I wanted to to create fashion moments that change how people see themselves and the world around them.”
Even though Mbane is a qualified accountant, he is completely self-taught when it comes to fashion design.
“I never attended fashion school, I woke up one day and asked my mom to show me how to use the sewing machine. And next thing I’m doing something that felt so natural to me,” he says.
When Imprint was started it was called Swagger Diariez. But when Mbane started getting ready for the Design Indaba as an Emerging Creative 2015 he got feedback that the brand name didn’t quite match the brand manifesto.
“I had to go back to the drawing board and look at what fashion meant for me. And given that I chose accounting in life and for some reason, I could never escape fashion, it felt like fashion imprinted itself on me. That coupled with the fact that I was creating bold fashion moments that you could never miss or forget, the name Imprint just felt right.”
Mbane describes Imprint as an Afro-Futuristic Pan-African fashion brand that he created to celebrate the glamour, as well as to tell the stories, of African ancestors using iconic print, fabrics and specific points in time.
Put more succinctly, the brand has a simple and often-stated ethos: “Leave a mark.”
“I see my brand as a storytelling tool. Celebrating the stories and glamour of our African ancestors with a very modern and futuristic feel,” he says.
When asked what inspires him he said that he is always inspired by life, shared experiences, and the need to find out about and celebrate history and heritage.
“It’s always said that African history is often misinterpreted because our ancestors didn’t write things down as the Europeans did and to most that’s seen as a limiting thing, but to me our ancestors did very well in using different mediums to document who they were and their history, that I want to use my work as a way of celebrating that and further documenting who we are now and the new diverse version of Africa.”
Mbane’s first runway show was with SA Menswear Fashion Week in Cape Town 2015.
He put the collection together while he was working in finance at the City of Cape Town.
The collection was called “Our Roots” inspired by the idea that we all share roots.
“I remember that one show changed my life, I got to do Mercedes Benz Cape Town a week straight after that with a collection titled ‘My soul dances to the beat of my lullaby’ inspired by my life in fashion and the people who inspired the brand Imprint. From there on I got my first break to do Mercedes Fashion Week Ghana and Africa Fashion Week Nigeria.”
He has been honoured for his work a few times but his biggest win was the Heritage or Cultural Designer of the Year 2023 award presented by Fashion Industry Awards SA in partnership with the SA Department of Sports Arts and Culture.
Over the years he has done a number of collaborations with other brands.
But his stand-out collaboration was with Assics to design a Springbok rugby jersey in 2020.
“That is such an iconic moment for me because I had never seen my work living outside of the fashion space before that moment. It helped see how much I can do with the brand Imprint, allowed me to dream even bigger,” he says.
With the growth of the brand and given his love of homeware and furniture, he has moved into the interior design space. He recently launched his first-ever interior range called Imprint Ikhaya at Decorex Joburg.
At the moment Mbane is working on a project that is taking place as part of a trade show at Shanghai Fashion Week China, that’s happening in October.
He is also getting ready to launch his latest collection at SA Fashion Week titled “SIZALWA NGOBANI” which basically looks at and celebrates the brand's journey since its inception.
Looking towards the future Mbane wants to do more in the African continent.
“I obviously want to grow the brand overseas but I see so much opportunity for the brand as one of the most recognised and celebrated brands in Africa by people of the Continent.”
“There’s such a need for what we do internationally and I’m already doing what I can to fill that gap, taking every opportunity that I get. The world is looking at Africa for the next best thing, and I plan to be that,” he says.
IOL Lifestyle