Leisure wear has taken over the fashion scene as more women are looking for comfort and style that they can wear from their couch to the gym and on a shopping spree with the girls.
South African athleisure brand Kheper saw that there was a gap in the local industry when it came to catering for plus-size women and embarked on a journey to create high-quality garments for all sizes.
Kheper was founded by a husband and wife team, Martin and Mena Kooger, in 2017.
“Kheper was born out of the frustration of not being able to find high-quality activewear at an affordable price as well as the fact that every marketing campaign back in 2016/17 just had one type of model which I was unable to relate to,” says Mena who has a background in marketing and sales.
“My husband, who is also my business partner, set out to source the best activewear fabric internationally as it was and still is impossible to find high-quality activewear fabrics in South Africa.
“We then did market research using Instagram, sending nearly 500 women messages asking what they were looking for in active wear.
“We asked the brand founder a few questions about the brand and her views on the future of leisurewear.
What would you say sets you apart from any other athleisure brand out there in the South African market?
We import and design our own prints using only the best luxury activewear fabrics and that we manufacture 99% of all the products in our own factory in Cape Town, which gives us complete control of our quality standards. We are also able to drop new merchandise on a monthly basis, which keeps our offering exciting and fresh.
What do you look for in activewear?
When we look at activewear we look for is comfortability, versatility (can the item transcend from activewear to altheisure wear?) and fabric quality.
What do you see as the biggest trends in activewear?
With the current climate many people are embracing their individual wellness journeys and combine that with working from home, and home workouts, the new norm. People want minimal activewear designs that can take them from their 3pm zoom meeting straight to their home workout with little effort. The everyday uniform has evolved and we now see activewear as a staple fashion piece
How do you source your fabrics and what inspires your designs?
We have been fortunate to build partnerships with international fabric suppliers who manufacture fabric for many of the bigger international brands in Australia, the UK and US. We currently source and import 95% of our fabrics from Brazil and China and the remaining 5% we source from local suppliers in South Africa.
Our design inspiration comes from what is happening in the rest of the world, so we do lots of social media searching and looking at what international activewear brands are doing.
Where do you see Kheper in five years from now?
We aim to be the biggest locally owned and manufactured athleisure brand in South Africa.