Lalesso was launched in Cape Town in 2005 by co-creators Olivia Kennaway, 24, and Alice Heusser, 25. The inspiration behind the brand came from a holiday to Olivia’s home country, Kenya. The pair travelled to the remote Island of Lamu on the north coast. The traditional ‘uniform’ of the local women in these coastal regions is the captivating beautiful ‘khanga’ or ‘lesso’; its intrinsic patterns and vibrant colours grasped the attention of Kennaway and Heusser and in no time they managed to combine fashion college deadlines with the birth of the Lalesso brand. The ideology was centred on transforming this wonderful piece of East African heritage into stylish, fun, contemporary designs and in doing so to involve the local communities in Kenya and South Africa and create fair employment for all those involved at production level. Lalesso has shown several times at Pret-a-Porter in Paris, Magic in Las Vegas, Sanlam Fashion Week 2007, Cape Town Fashion Week 2008, Africa Fashion Week 2009 and London Pure in 2009. It also showed at last year’s Cape Town Fashion Week for the second time and at London Fashion Week Esthestica in September. It won the 2009 Fashion Innovation Award from the British Ethical Fashion Forum. Now stocked in boutiques and stores worldwide, and regularly featured in global fashion magazines, Lalesso's clothing has adorned style icons like Sienna Miller and Kate Moss.

Production Capacity:
Approximately 10 000 units in an eight-week period.

Sector: