Nelson Mandela 46664 charity to launch fashion label
12 March BBC
Nelson Mandela's Aids charity 46664 is to launch an international
fashion label, the former South African president's foundation has
announced.
It will be called 46664 Apparel after the number Mr Mandela wore in
jail. Profits will go to the charity and the label is also intended to
boost South Africa's clothing industry, the Nelson Mandela Foundation
said. The anti-apartheid icon spent 27 years in prison before becoming
South Africa's first black president in 1994. "46664 needs reliable and
sustainable income streams, something we believe the 46664 Apparel can
significantly contribute to," Achmat Dangor, chief executive of the
Nelson Mandela Foundation, told reporters on Wednesday. He said there
was clearly a market for clothes with Mr Mandela's former prison number
as a logo - and the charity's T-shirts have always proved popular.
"Historically we found that people who attended 46664 events all
wanted some kind of identification with the programme," he told the BBC.
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko in Johannesburg says a selection of garments were
shown off at the event to announce the label. The clothes included
everyday wear items as well as couture outfits, she says.
The men and women's range is being designed by Seardel, South
Africa's biggest textile and clothing manufacturer. The Nelson Mandela
Foundation said the label would be launched in South Africa in August -
along with a shop in Johannesburg. Stores may also be opened in the US
and the UK next year. |