Why Ghanaian Celebrity Fashion Brands Mysteriously Disappear After They Launch Them!

Last year we wrote over 5 articles of celebrities turned designers who apparently were launching their clothing line/label. It’s been one year since we pleaded with them to stop announcing clothing lines (read Here). Every since then, it seems all have folded and if not they are then nowhere to be seen. Maybe they took our advice.

Some of the names, then, soon to launch clothing lines were Jackie Appiah, 4×4 launched theirs, Guru launched his, D Blacks label has been rumoured to launch, John Dumelo already had J Melo Van Vicker, Prince David Osei, and much much more.

Ever since their feature in a few blogs there has been absolute silence regarding their labels. So here is why our beloved celebrities were not able to maintain a successful career in the world of fashion.

1/ They misunderstood our industry and embraced it as if it was entertainment. ie. Get a good manager, impress people with your talent and then you see the money. Unfortunately fashion is totally different, so different! It’s not about creation a name and being present everywhere. It’s a continuous step by step process of tactical and creative development which is far separate from the world of entertainment.

Van Vicker Released his clothing line last year according to blogs.

2/ They assumed their popularity in the entertainment world will translate into clothing sales. Unfortunately again it doesn’t work that way. People like you for your music or your acting, generally speak. And being in that position and walking by 100s of people shaking your hand and congratulating you might make you think higher of yourself. But having 100s of people thinking to themselves “Hey that is the guy we saw in a movie, let me congratulate him” is different from what you assume they are thinking which is “Hey that guy was so amazing in the movie if he makes anything I will buy it even if he does no promotion at all”, NO. The percentage of the latter within the earlier could even be zero in some cases. Your entertainment popularity might be well appreciated but will not necessarily translate into sales.

Lil Win Posing in Guru’s clothing which seems to be the only pair we’ve ever seen.

3/ They forgot they have another job. Many of our entertainers are still yet to reach a very lucrative career and spend a lot of time working in their respected fields. Sometimes even still struggling to maintain a decent life. In dire moments you wish to think of all the things you can do to bring in more money, the thought of having shirts with your name on it sounds like an easy alternative trade that you can do on the side. But fashion brands and fashion labels are not sideline jobs. It’s a competitive trail of concepts and developing unique designs and then branding it whilst swerving copy cats and unpaid orders and that’s not even half of the misery. However, it’s at this moment where they realize they would either have to quit their entertainment related jobs for their new wave of fashion aspirations which is very time demanding and consuming and not promising of pay. And as we can see, they reframe from doing so and disolve the clothing brand.

John Dumelo at a photoshoot for J Melo clothing…..Funny enough even he is not wearing J Melo.

So there you have it, there is no denying the next celebrity turn designer in Ghana will consider these points ahead of time before releasing their fashion line. Best advise is to collaborate with someone within that field. Yes it makes sense to feel you are bringing in a lot of popularity and some cash and therefore you wish to own it but that on it’s own won’t account for half of a successful line.

Planning, marketting, design and more all come into play. As we have stated many times, what will be best to do is maintain a good relationship with our already existing designers, support them and help them become the brands we need to see in Ghana and Africa. With that said check out these guys and get messaging and buying www.accrafashionweek.org/designers

In all honesty, it would be more than great to see their brands succeed. And has been fabulous to watch how well Sark collection was branded, even though it seems to be facing some popularity issues today. But it will also be nicer to see them take the appropriate channels to develop their brands by bringing more to the industry. Hiring models, photographers, booking slots on fashion show, etc, instead of wishing to make fashion sales simply via press releases on entertainment blogs.