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hello and welcome if you're new to my channel and if you're a subscriber a warm welcome back in this video i'm going to be talking about three African luxury brands when you look at luxury across the board you rarely if at all hear about specifically African luxury and that's because we can't compete with the big brands when it comes to heritage it comes to big marketing budgets to get the brand in front of the consumers to get them to be aware of it and investing in it but where we can compete quality we are absolutely exceptional and i'm going to shine the light on three noteworthy brands specifically in the handbag space i'm Anesu Sagonda and i produce educational luxury content for anyone after the finer things so whether you're someone who is young and starting out and wanting to reap the benefits of buying quality from the get go or you're new to money and wanting to learn how to navigate the terrain or you're into luxury but you want to focus more on the brands that operate very much under the radar packing a mighty quality punch then my content is very much geared towards you all three african brands that i'm going to talk about are South African Cape Cobra Okapi and Viviers Fashion Viviers Fashion handbags are actually produced by Cape Cobra so technically i'm going to be talking about 2.5 brands but as i mentioned in my intro regardless of the luxury product group African luxury brands simply cannot compete with the global luxury brands when it comes to heritage for example you have Louis Vuitton which was founded in 1854 Loewe1846 Gucci 1921 Bally 1851 for example Okapi was started in 2008 Vivier's Fashion 2019 and Cape Cobra in 1970 they're well under 50 years of age but when you look at the European brands apart from Gucci the other three brands are well over a hundred years looking at the marketing that i also mentioned Loewe and Louis Vuitton are owned by the largest luxury group in the world Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy Gucci is owned by Kering the second biggest luxury group in the world and by virtue of their parentage they have access to millions of pounds to run the slickest the most strategic marketing campaigns in the world to ensure that consumers continue to aspire and in turn buy the handbags from the luxury brands something that the African luxury brands simply cannot even afford or even begin to think of but where the african brands come in and they do a phenomenal job and in some cases are actually better than some of the global luxury brands that are incredibly visible and people are investing into they compete on quality the quality of the leathers that are used phenomenal the exquisite craftsmanship and also sustainability the three African brands i'm going to talking be talking about are absolutely exemplary and killing it when it comes to being sustainably focused what i'm going to do is i'm going to talk about all three individually and i'm going to kick off with Okapi Okapi is an antelope that is indigenous to Congo it's also known as a forest giraffe zebra giraffe or Congolese giraffe it's the only animal known animal that's a relative to the giraffe but it is most commonly referred to as the african unicorn and that's because of its incredibly shy and elusive nature very much like african luxury brands phenomenal quality as i've mentioned but when you look at the global luxury arena African luxury brands are typically in the back they're carrying in the back fairly diffident just looking ahead at the big global brands but it's time to literally open the stage and push through African brands and in particular the three that i'm talking about because they can very confidently hold their own when it comes to luxury handbags Okapi is a very interesting brand with a back story to boot it's a privately owned family business owned by a young lady called Hanneli Rupert and Hanneli Rupert is the daughter of Johan Rupert and Johan Rupert is the head of Richemont which is the third largest luxury group in the world after LVMH and Kering and although Okapi is not owned by Richemont by association such close association i would expect she would have had access to some of the expertise the network the suppliers all the goodness that comes with being part of a big luxury group but regardless she has produced she has managed to build up an incredible brand Okapi itself is actually a lifestyle brand so she's not just focused on handbags but she also produces accessories you have beautiful feather scarves she also produces baby gifts back gammon boards cards as well looking specifically at her handbags artisanal leather entirely handmade in South Africa from sustainably sourced local materials she's very focused on creating jobs and leaving a lasting and positive impact on the local community she works with the majority of her bags are made from blesbok and blesbok is a byproduct of the farming industry it's mainly the meat that's used and the hides are discarded but she uses the hides she tans them herself in South Africa creates her own hardware in-house and then the bags are designed and assembled entirely in South Africa her range of bags are timeless they're elegant they're understated very easy to wear bags her main range of bags are very simple envelope style bags come in one bold colour or a series of bold colours different leathers mixed together or one leather there's also the option for charms whether it's the ostrich feather charm or a springbok horn charm but just fun colourful bags she also has a range of your top handle crossbody bags and they use a part of the ostrich most brands don't use um the shin and it just brings a stunning aesthetic to the bag it's usually the part of the hide ostrich part of the hide where the feathers are so it's the bobbled bit but they use the shin which is just it's striking but the piece de resistance the one i love her range my favourite is the ostrich bags they come in a range of colours and the bag is entirely made of ostrich feathers an entire show a show-stopping handbag you walk into a room and people will notice you it's fantastic either for a cocktail party a wedding any event where you walk in it's the talking point for the colour for the style the flirty nature of the bag and then she also has a tote she's just recently added to her range of bags and it comes in different sizes her bags are priced between 500 and 2600 but the majority of her bags are actually priced between 500 and 1500 2600 is more the bigger size bags of a range she already has and bags priced between 500 and 1500 within my hierarchy of handbags series which i'm going to attach above i also talk about the different levels of luxury and that is the affordable luxury range i've grouped two levels of luxury so affordable luxury and accessible core and i know a few of my viewers have been upset with me by referring to certain brands as affordable luxury but relative to the higher levels of luxury so from affordable luxury you have accessible core then premium core super premium ultra high end and bespoke affordable luxury is a lot more affordable than the other levels as you go up hence i've referred to it as that and within that affordable luxury the global brands you have brands such as Stella Mccartney Marni Bally Burberry Anya Hindmarsh for example and from an aesthetics point of view Anya Hindmarsh is the closest to Okapi mature bags as i've mentioned for somebody who wants a mature fun colourful talking point bag Anya Hindmarsh is fantastic a bag that's fun it's well made it'll last a lifetime Okapi is exactly the same but in its own right as i've mentioned Okapi is a phenomenal brand for the quality of the heights that are used very well tanned the hardware that's made in-house and the most exceptional craftsmanship my next brand is Cape Cobra Cape Cobra is the opposite end of Okapi it's a lot more mature in terms of the look and the feel of the brand for a start it's a higher level of luxury it fits very comfortably within the premium core premium core is your bags that are priced between 1 500 and 3 000 pounds but Cape Cobra is more 2000 pounds and well above your 3 pounds focused on a range of exotic leather skins so think of python there's crocodile there's alligator and there's also ostrich sustainably sourced the ostrich comes from a small Karoo desert town called Oudtshoorn that's very much focused around ostrich farming crocodile and alligator come from farms in Pretoria and they import in their snake skin and in particular the python but they have a much wider range of styles a lot more mature incredibly sophisticated you have clutches you have top handle bags you have your crossbody bags you have a wide array of bags in different exotic skins more so the emphasis is on your bold colours and also mixing various exotic leathers which look absolutely exquisite an elevated product as i mentioned is premium core so it competes neck and neck with your global brands such as Louis Vuitton Givenchy Gucci Saint Laurent Alexander McQueen for example it fits very comfortably within that premium core and holds its own the brand apart from being focused on the quality materials and exquisite craftsmanship they're very much about exclusivity so they produce between six to eight pieces for each style in various colors once it's gone it's gone and there's a brand in Harrods and Harrods as you know is arguably the most luxurious department store in the world if not the most well-known but they have an American brand called Nancy Gonzalez very similar in terms of the design aesthetic to Cape Cobra and every time i walk past their concession i always i always just think Cape Cobra would fit very comfortably in Harrods in this section they hold their own very similar in terms of the style in terms of the quality for the consumer who's after a very well made exotic leather bag at an affordable price it's going to be expensive for quality but you have brands such as Hermes that where you're looking at well over 20 30 000 but the same product in terms of a quality well-made exotic leather at a fraction of that price so between three to possibly five thousand pounds depending on just how detailed that bag is my next brand is Viviers Fashion and Viviers Fashion as i mentioned earlier their bags are produced by Cape Cobra in my last video i spoke about a brand called Gabriela Hearst i'm going to attach that video above and Gabriela Hearst is literally the big sister to Viviers Fashion they're very similar in terms of their sustainable focus both are focused on using dead stock very high quality dead stock to ensure firstly they're producing very good quality pieces but also their pieces are made to last their piece their collections are trans-collectional so they can be worn all year round but most of all they're focused on producing just enough Viviers Fashion limited editions Gabriela says we produce just enough not over producing to minimise on waste so it's all very much within the the sustainability focus Cape Cobra produced two ranges of bags for Viviers Fashion there's the pyramid bag and that's priced at 15 000 Rands which is roughly 750 pounds the second bag they produce is the cobra belt bag and that's priced at 18 000 Rands which is roughly 900 pounds and both come in the full range of colours and exotic leathers that Cape Cobra have to offer and although the bags are priced comfortably within the accessible core level of luxury they are made by a brand that is producing at the premium core level so the pedigree the quality is going to be phenomenal it's not going to be compromised even though it's a lower level of luxury the bags are coming from good pedigree the quality the craftsmanship essentially has been guaranteed all three brands that i've spoken about you have Okapi and Cape Cobra based in Cape Town Cape Cobra have their own store i'm going to include all the details in the description box down below they have their own store and also sell online and ship globally Okapi sell in Merchants of Long in Cape Town online on their website and they also have a boutique in central London in Belgravia and Belgravia as you know is part of the platinum triangle so they're very much within their target audience and Viviers Fashion is based in Johannesburg and you can order the bags from their website but three phenomenal brands from South Africa for you to get on your radar when it comes to a very well made product quality materials and bringing in a different range of styles to the international scene i cannot recommend these three brands highly enough let me know in the comments down below what you think of them if you have any experience with them but otherwise thank you for watching and i look forward to seeing you again soon
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