Sharika Regchand

Pietermaritzburg Bureau

FROM being unemployed seven months ago, six students who began a learnership programme at acclaimed shoe manufacturers Eddels Shoes now not only have jobs as trainee designers, but are going to have their creations displayed at Edgars in the Liberty Midlands Mall, Pietermaritzburg.

Kateland Govender, 20, Philisiwe Mpangase, 19, Fezile Madlala, 22, Sbongiseni Mkhize, 25, Ayanda Ngubane, 20, and Deolin Perumal, 19, were recruited into the Eddels footwear design learnership programme in March. The company was not only a training provider accredited with the Fibre Processing and Manufacturing Seta, but was registered with the Department of Education as a private FET College and accredited by Umalusi.

When they joined the programme, the six knew little about how footwear was conceived and designed. Now they are making heads turn, stunning footwear industry experts with trendy and imaginative designs produced as part of their learnership training.

Eddels Shoes CEO John Comley said: “Footwear design is a very scarce skill in South Africa, but is critical to the footwear industry if it is to reclaim its share of an increasingly competitive global market.

 

“Local footwear design schools… do not always equip students with the essential skills to produce innovative and fashionable footwear designs to make an imprint on the international fashion arena.”

Once they had completed the core modules, the students began their practical training relating to design and the production of patterns.

Comley said the students were coached and mentored by internal skills development facilitators at the factory on the practical application of the pattern-producing modules and given an introduction to design under Krish Sivenarain, a registered assessor and skills development facilitator.

The services of a retired, widely acknowledged and respected footwear designer, Bob Starmer, were procured to broaden the students’ capabilities past the process of producing patterns from existing fashions and to uncover their conceptualisation skills and design talent, he said. Within four weeks, under Starmer’s mentorship, the students were able to reproduce patterns competently.

The company’s sales and marketing director, Richard Starmer, offered cash incentives to develop innovative and practical design concepts for one pair of men’s and one pair of women’s shoes, which were to be evaluated by a panel of technical experts from the factory. The students were given a week, without any guidance, to meet the challenge.

Starmer said the students’ performances were excellent. Mpangase and Madlala were awarded R1 000 each and the others R250 each.

Starmer said a senior delegation from the procurement division of Edgars visited the factory in August and was astounded at the students’ innovative designs. They were so impressed they undertook to publicise the students’ achievements through Edgars’ stores, starting with that at Liberty Mall.

Govender said she had not realised the opportunity that awaited her when she embarked on the programme.

“I had no knowledge of how footwear was conceived or constructed. It was all so different to what I had imagined and difficult at first, but as each day progressed the designing of shoes grew on me.

“The most inspiring moments were when, after five months of intensive mentorship, we had an opportunity to design freestyle without any mentorship.”

Mpangase said designing shoes brought out her “creativity, flair and skills”. Madlala said initially it was mind-boggling to consider all the components, raw materials, terminology, technology and processes in footwear manufacturing, but now she had the hang of things.

Mkhize recalled that when he was at school, he had a pair of shoes made by Eddels and thought the quality was excellent. It was “unbelievable” that he was now a trainee designer at the company.

Ngubane said he could not believe he possessed such a talent, while Perumal said he had always had a passion for designing.