The Logistician In Fashion

- Motlabana Monnakgotla

IN THE ARID SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIP OF Ennerdale is a colorful, diverse community. It is the setting for our meeting with fashion designer Rethabile Ntsekalle who lives here with her husband. Born in Welkom, the second largest city in the Free State Province of South Africa, Ntsekalle moved to Johannesburg, the city of gold, 260kms from her home, in 2009, to study and pursue a career.

She had been intrigued by the world of fashion as a young girl. In high school, she dabbled in modeling until she realized she wasn’t tall enough. In her final year, she became an ambassador for a hair brand, Diva Divine. Her face was plastered on pamphlets across Africa after the first photoshoot with the brand.

After high school, Ntsekalle opted to study logistics because it seemed like a lucrative career option at the time.

“There was a time when my mom was driving me to the taxi rank after visiting over the holidays. She asked me, ‘why logistics?’ I thought to myself, ‘why not logistics?’ She asked if there was any passion or love. I just said ‘it’s for the money’,” she recalls.

Ntsekalle’s mother had never imagined her daughter in the logistics industry, but rather in fashion as she knew this was where her interests lay.

Three months later, thankfully, Ntsekalle changed her mind. She called her mother and announced that she was going to follow her heart, and change course to study fashion.

But Ntsekalle was completely new to the professional world she was about to enter – she had never attended a fashion week event in her life, nor had she done anything related to fashion or design.