Ours is just a call and execute where we can.

We have said it before and we will say it again. Nyanga does not have a shortage of talent. What we have is a shortage of platforms that recognize talent as art.

Designers not tailors, designers are artists.

There is a big difference. A tailor sews what you bring. A designer creates what you have never seen. A tailor measures your body. A designer measures the identity of a whole district. Designers are artists, in the same league as musicians, poets, painters, and sculptors.

And so we ask,.. Do we have some in Nyanga who can place new fashions for a tourism district like Nyanga?

We do. They are in various places of Nyanga. Young girls and boys sketching in exercise books. Young mothers with sewing machines at Ziwa weaving. They have the skill, but they have never been called designers. They have been called weavers or tailors. We must change that name and change their market.

Nyanga is a tourism district. This is not a small title. People come from Harare, from Mutare, from South Africa, from the UK, from Germany to see our mountains, our Nyangombe Falls, our Mt Nyangani, our Trout Hatchery and  our timber plantations. What do they take home? A memory. What do they wear when they are here? Nothing that tells them they were in Nyanga.

‎A tourism district must look like a tourism district.‎

Nyanga should design garments that has suitability to its economic pillars.

That is the marketing gap and the marketing opportunity.

What are our pillars? Tourism, Agriculture, Arts, Heritage, Culture and Hospitality.

So why can’t we have:‎A Nyanga Mountain Range Collection that has  jackets, beanies, and scarves designed for our cold climate, branded with Nyanga patterns.

A Tea and Apple Orchard Collection, design garments that use green, earth tones, and fruit colors, suitable for our farm workers, our farmers, and our tourists visiting our estates.

‎‎A Trout and Honey Collection design a light resort wear for our lodges, hotels, and homestays.‎

An Arts and Cultural Heritage Collection, a modern wear that carries our traditional motifs, but redesigned for today’s youth.‎‎

When a tourist buys a shirt in Victoria Falls, it says Victoria Falls. When a tourist buys something in Nyanga, what does it say? Nothing. We are letting money walk away.

‎Now the big question: Do we have funders for the emerging talents?‎‎

This is our call to the business community, to the lodges, to the hotels,  to the NGOs, to the Diaspora and leadership.

Fund one designer. Fund one sewing machine. Fund one fashion showcase at the next Festivals. Fund one exhibition at a hotel lobby.

‎‎You are not funding clothes. You are funding the identity of a district. You are funding employment for a young woman who will not need to go to South Africa. You are funding a reason for a tourist to spend an extra $20 in Nyanga.

Be The Impact Media Trust is calling and executing where we can. We have created Impact Media Hub to give these designers a media space. We are creating IMH Magazine to give them a page. We are organizing Festivals to give them a runway.

But we cannot do it alone.‎‎

To every lodge owner: What if your staff uniform was designed by a Nyanga designer, inspired by Nyanga?‎

To every school: What if your prize-giving day included a Best Designer award?‎‎

To every funder reading this: The tailors are already there. Help us turn them into designers. Help us turn designers into artists. Help us turn artists into employers.

Nyanga is beautiful. Let Nyanga dress beautifully.

‎‎We are ready to execute.‎‎

If you are a designer in Nyanga or a funder who wants to support emerging fashion talent, contact Be The Impact Media Trust on https://betheimpactmedia.com/blog ‎

Nyanga Tourism Attire. Designed in Nyanga, Worn by the World.

‎‎By Bright Barwe ‎