Swagg Mafia Tames Goth

Tshepo Cartoonz & Cereal (22) is co-founder of what used to be a designing quartet. The designers decided to merge their talents in 2012 and start the label Swagg Mafia, a brand that has been causing a stir in the hip hop fraternity since. Swagg Mafia has been featured by Hype Magazine and YFM as a young emerging design crew. Since then as a group, Swagg Mafia has parted ways amicably citing designing conflicts and out of the four that were, two are left. When asked how their designs have evolved from then to now, Tshepo says that they’re first instinct then was to migrate the gothic look that was trending in the States into the SA market. The response however was not great because in as much as South Africans like to look at the trend, it isn’t something they themselves want to wear. Tshepo and his partner Vusi KingV Mtambo (whose brands ¥@ND’$ and Emit are well known around campuses in Joburg) have since gone back to the drawing board to create apparel that is still bold enough to challenge the South African stylista, but not have it chase them away.

Swagg Mafia has progression as a purpose. They have moved from pre-printing t-shirts and pants to designing everything from scratch. They’re now looking at concentrating more on diluting the hard-core gothic background from which their brand was birthed, fusing it with steeze to create a street version of Goth they call Preyllex. Preyllex plays a lot with Goth in black and white, while also lending heavily from urban wear designs.

It has a level of ‘bling’ that pushes it away from its originator. Looking at pictures on Pin Interest, I can’t help but notice the elaborate time pieces and golden sneakers that form a part of this look. Goth has had an affair with Urban Street Wear and their love child is weird. I love it!

Weirdness is the true originator of trends.

I ask Tshepo where to from here and he says that they are working on a photo shoot for their new trend which is simply called the Navy Trend. Swagg Mafia will be playing around with the navy uniform, drawing inspiration from it to create urban street wear that is stylishly nautical. I quickly chime in requesting something for the ladies. A woman in uniform? Yes please! He laughs and reassures me that there will something for everyone. I personally cannot wait to see what next they have in store. And you know where you can expect to see it first.

Follow Swagg Mafia on @SwaggMafiaSA