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FASHION STATEMENT: Models show off some of the Lyrical clothing brand

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One of them is Neo "Money" Mafokwane, owner of Lyrical DC, whose company designs fun and funky apparel.

From a young age Mafokwane loved printed tees - regardless of the brand.

"Whether it was a promotional tee or a well-known brand, I collected them like toys," he says.

Lyrical DC is the brand of his dreams, though he never dreamt of having a brand like Lyrical.

The former banker, who is a born-again Christian, initially wanted to have tees with gospel message.

"As I progressed with my plans to start designing and manufacturing the desired tees, the whole plan changed while I was busy identifying my target market," Mofokwane explains.

"I got a graphic designer to help me with the designs. At that time we didn't have the name Lyrical as yet. We designed a few cartoons and a few other designs for the brand."

Mafokwane says the challenge was to get a name for the cartoon.

"We wanted a catchy and fun name. We found the name Lyrical in the movie Big Mama 3."

The movie was watched by the crew just to take their minds off things, without knowing that was the day to name the brand.

This brought great excitement to the team since they really liked the ring it had to it, "Lyrical". They had to go back to the designs desk to create cartoons that were going to suit the name Lyrical. That meant that all the designs that had been designed before the name "Lyrical" had to either be deleted or edited.

"With the team's creativity inflated they created the closed eyes, tongue out and headset cartoon that really came out quite brilliant. That was the birth of Lyrical DC."

Lyrical Clothing targets customers aged between 12 and 35 but it is more focused on the teens and the rap-hip-hop and dance communities and is currently selling its apparel through orders via e-mail, Facebook, phone calls and other means of communication.

"We are at present having discussions with retailers who are interested in selling our stuff. We also operate at open markets across the cities."

Mafokwane says the main aim of his company is to "fulfil the needs of our clients and meet the wardrobe demands that arise from their lifestyles" and to "bring joy into the lives of our clients by making them look and feel wonderful".

Why the closed eyes, tongue out and headset cartoon?

Mafokwane says the tongue and closed eyes show how much the cartoon is enjoying the music.

He says their primary competitors are T-shirt favourites Amakipkip and YMCMB and the ultimate goal is to grow bigger and turn the brand into a lifestyle and future fashion.

"We are currently busy with a fresh full clothing range. We believe our brand is more than a clothes line, it's a lifestyle," he says.

"Already our customers have created a lifestyle and culture around the brand. They have created a clean, futuristic, self-motivated lifestyle that motivates the youth to strive to excel in anything they do."

- johnz@sowetan.co.za

Comments

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Sun May 19 13:50:52 SAST 2013 ::

May 30, 2012

CAKE

Gud-luck.
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May 30, 2012

Sgandy

cut and paste headphones logo on hoodies then call it design..duh!!
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May 30, 2012

TKay

Designers????? do they design or put a logo on a shirt
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May 30, 2012

Maphum28

Really now?? Anybody can do that. Even school T-shirts, ANC T-shirts etc but just do not call it designing please.
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May 30, 2012

Jaquo

it Doesnt matter what they do.........atleast they have a creative thought and mind to do something of value and appreciated by those who buy them..........than a bunch of loosers, crowns and muppets like you.........i wonder what type of parents you make or would make everything is negative .......no wonder many are poor and at the mercy of Governement.....whats wron with you people cant you think of something positive.........well for your information the brand owner has probably made a quick buck whilst you sit and blame his work
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May 30, 2012

Motabolapasa

ke nyooko feela
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May 30, 2012

Maphum28

@Jaquo... I don't care what they do or whether they make money out of it but do not call it creativity and use the word design together with it and I am being positive about this whole thing believe me. I'm actually helping them for free - it's called constructive criticism.
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May 30, 2012

Chillis

Surely they can do better than this!!
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May 30, 2012

I&I

you go Girlz....P Diddy ,whatever his name is,making millions ,he knows nothing about designing i bet he cant even cut and paste at all...so Ladies do it!!! why dont you?
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May 30, 2012

Mlegend1

Atleast they are making money
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