THE WELL KNOWN “POSE WITH ASEZA” CLOTHING BRAND IN LUSIKISIKI

When you walk around Lusikisiki you are most likely to meet 5 out of 10 people wearing a clothing item branded with a “Pose with Aseza” logo.

That is a clothing brand owned by Aseza Nxumalo affectionately known as Mr Pose. This is a vibrant young man and is a founder and CEO of a famous clothing brand in Lusikisiki known as “Pose with Aseza”. Aseza Nxumalo’s work has been recognised by Bingo Royale Lusikisiki cafè that they framed his pose with Aseza T-shirt on their media wall.

He started out as a photographer who did not even own a camera.  He photographed using a camera he borrowed from a lady he knew.  Passion and dedication drove this young man into honing his photography skill.

“Photography was my favorite hobby but I did not own a camera at the time but  I knew a lady who had the equipment and so I would borrow her camera for a few gigs I used to get. The hobby became a passion and I researched more about photography so I could sharpen my skill. You know when you’re doing something you love you always want to do better than yesterday.” Said Aseza.

Although he was still a computer science student at UKZN, Aseza was also dedicated in photography and worked hard until he was able to buy his own equipment within a year. His good work was now being recognised by big corporate companies and he got bigger and better gigs. He says one of his first biggest shoot was at a UKZN graduation ceremony. More clients such as eyaMampomdo entertainment also asked him to photograph their events. People started loving his work and he got more gigs in and around Lusikisiki.

As a marketing strategy which helped him get to people who are not on social media, he says he used to give out free T-shirts to people he photographed. The T-shirts were branded with the now famous logo “Pose with Aseza”. He says he was able to photograph two different events and those clients found Aseza through his T-shirt marketing strategy.

More people on social media began to inquire about the T-shirts some suggesting that he should sell the T-shirts.  Aseza said “I used to give out T-shirts for free just so I could push the business, at the time I wasn’t even expecting any profit back then, back then I would get the T-shirt and brand it all for R95 and sell them for R100 each, I was not making any profit.”

When he finally began selling the T-shirts he realised that they were now in demand and more people were making orders.

Aseza was now able to sell more than five T-shirts per week. He says that was his moment of realising that, owning his own clothing brand is something he can even make a living out of.

He says his curiosity helped him network and find a supplier who would charge him less prices for the T-shirts but did the branding for himself.  He now began buying more T-shirts and branding them and increased the price so he could make a little profit. He started seeing some profit.

“I started seeing real profit because now I had topped the amount and I have ordered my stock in bulk, I would make up to R500 and that was a lot because I was still a student and did  even have funding” said Aseza.

When he graduated and was still waiting for employment he decided not to depend on the hope of being employed which might not come. “I graduated from varsity and waited for employment but I didn’t just wait not doing anything. My situation was worse because I owed the institution since I wasn’t funded. So some of my things were withheld by the institution. So I continued selling my T-shirts and grew to Jerseys and still not making that much profit. I added hoodies, golf, Tees, bucket hats and other items.”

With the power of social media and Aseza’s hard work he was then able to grow his business and his brand got known in every corner of Lusikisiki. The business got too busy for him to handle all by himself and he had to look for a P.A and that’s when  he met Zizipho Ntlangano who later became a shareholder in the business.

He says the business went so well that he even had a target of buying a car.

Aseza said “Things were looking good in the business that in 2020 I wanted to buy a car, but I delayed that plan and decided to look for a place I would use as my shop. People have trust issues and there are many scammers. I saw that I would lose clients who did not stay in Lusikisiki just because no one trusts a person who does not have a physical place.”

Aseza Nxumalo now owns his own shop in town. His shop is next to KFC behind the Ingquza Hill pharmacy. He has two ladies working with him in the shop. He says he still does photography but mostly does  corporate clients such as Bra move’s  tavern Inkandla bar which is one of Lusikisiki’s biggest sports bar.

His big dream now is to grow his shop and remove all the clothing he gets from his supplier and have clothes that are tailored from scratch by his company.