What’s the big deal with wearing a local Fiji designer’s clothing?

I get asked this question a lot and I thought to myself, so yes Ms Mani, why do you always jump at the chance of owning a piece of clothing from the local designers?

I love shopping and I am guilty of mindless shopping every now and then. However, I find myself gravitating towards local designers because for obvious reasons, I like what I see and because I know it suits my style.

Some argue, that for that amount of money you could get something from an international brand, or some say that it too overly priced given they are just local designers! My take on this is, why do we always (to some extent) shun or give less credit to our local designers, artists, musicians and even culinary experts? Are we not proud that we have our own community producing beautiful work?

I don’t know about you, but I am proud, in fact I am very very proud to strut around in a locally designed outfit. There are a couple of reasons why I feel this way and one of them being the conversations it generates. I have had complete strangers walk up to me and ask me where I got my outfit from and who tailored it. And to my understanding, this indicates a strong mark and impact that our local designers already have in our communities. I love talking to people and its always nice to get to know someone over a discussion about fashion even though our paths may never cross again. You know what they say about first impression being the last right?!

I proudly own outfits from Samson Lee, Zuber, Sugarrose, Temesia and Malia by Treehouse Boutique. Whenever I go to their boutiques or even discuss something custom made that I want, the joy it brings to them always makes me feel good. Yes of course, money is being paid, but at the same time the commitment and effort they put into providing their services is impressive.

They pay attention to detail and make sure you are provided with top notch service. They are generating income to sustain their brand, to employ people that work with them and it helps to keep the cycle moving.

What? Expensive? Yeah maybe try not to buy a cup of coffee or eat out every day! Trust me, whenever I want to buy something exclusively from a local designer or splurge in general, I give up buying coffee for a certain period, I take my lunch to work and I lessen the number of times I eat out so that I can save money. Easy.

My recent purchase was from Sugarrose after she showed at Wearing Fiji. When I contacted her for certain outfits, she was thrilled. When I met her for fittings, she told me how worried she was that people would not wear her clothes or appreciate it.

The fact that all the designers have sold out simply indicates that there are customers like me who appreciate and are proud of our local designers. I simply love being in a boutique for fittings because it I love watching something amazing come to life and it is something that I will wear eventually.

Before you judge me and say I should support causes instead of mindless shopping, well I do. I never talk about the causes I support nor intend to do that now. But I hope you get what I am saying.

I am so excited and happy for our upcoming designers and established designers, and hope to see more of our local brands, go international.