Chilling with Nick Kaoma

  Tell people where you're from?

I'm a product of Q2 (Qwa Qwa) in the Free State. I'm currently based 

in Cape Town or the 'cape of good dope', as AKA calls it.

  Have you always been into fashion?

Yep, very much so! In my early teens I was really not into anything 

except for soccer. However, in my latter years in high school I took a 

serious liking to threads. Me and my boys used to spend most of our 

afternoons visiting a shop called DAKS of London. It's there where we 

discovered British, French and Italian brands such as Lyle & Scott, 

Pringle, Carvela, Ellesse, Lanvin, Kurt Geiger etc. It took us forever 

to amass a decent collection as none of our folks were well-off.

We always looked forward to 'Casual days' at school as they were the 

perfect opportunity to showcase your new gear. I once killed the game 

on one of those days ... I rocked a Burberry trench coat (which I 

found buried in my mom's forsaken suit cases) with blue velvet Lanvin 

pants .. My homies lost their minds!!!!

   How did Head Honcho come about?

I've always considered myself a resourceful and restless individual. 

After I dropped out of UCT in '02 I decided to make a handful of tees 

under the "9ine" moniker. I gave them to my friends; they dug 'em so I 

decided to manufacture more and sell them to a shop in Observatory. I 

pushed the line as much as I could but it didn't go far .. My lack of 

business/fashion experience proved too big of an impediment!

Fast-forward 6 years,I decided to give it another go after gaining 

some valuable experience in the corporate world . However, I didn't 

want to start a run-of-the-mill brand that was just about making 

cool-looking clothes ... I wanted the brand to inspire. The first 

person I hit up was Mzo, currently my Co-Creative Director and 

right-hand man at Head Honcho. I pitched the 'concept' to him ... He 

did not hesitate. A young Joburg-based man by the name of Tebello took 

a liking to our first range and decided to come on board too. The rest 

is street wear history.

  What are the goals for the company?

The current goal for the company is simple ... it's to be the 

undisputed No.1 street wear brand in the land. Nothing less.

  What separates Head Honcho from other street wear brands?

We don't do anything halfheartedly! We putting 110% into our designs, 

marketing, distribution etc. Another big USP is that Head Honcho is 

more than just clothing ... it's a platform/canvas that allows us to 

inspire people to LIVE PROGRESSIVELY.

Not only do we want you to look fly but we'd like to see you live life 

with passion and flair.

  You're a young CEO, what are some of the difficulties you deal with?

The challenges are many .. My job is to build Head Honcho up to a 

point where it becomes a commercially viable entity and lifestyle 

brand. To achieve that requires one to make the best use of limited 

resources (human, capital, infrastructure) in arena where we're 

competing directly with multi-billion rand brands such as Nike and 

Adidas. That's obviously a massive challenge ... it's a daily battle. 

A battle that I intend to win nevertheless.

Another major obstacle is the negative perception that people have of 

local fashion (especially street wear) brands. As Africans, we're very 

good at consuming products from the States, Europe and Asia however we 

frown on anything that looks and smells like it was made a taxi-ride 

away from your office. The only way to overcome this is to make 

quality garments that can sell anywhere in the world. It's our time 

papa!

  Did you study for this?

Nope ... not in the traditional sense. I was studying towards a B.Comm 

(Accounting) degree at UCT. I dropped out in the first year a couple 

of weeks before I was due to write final exams.

I make up for my lack of classical fashion training by reading and 

sucking up as much about anything fashion-related as I can. I learn a 

lot from just talking to seamstresses, sales assistants on retail 

floors, customers, designers and fashion execs... kinda like a 

cultural anthropologist. I still recall a conversation I had with 

Gavin Rajah in 2002. I bum rushed the poor man at his offices with no 

appointment and got him to share pearls of wisdom about the fashion 

industry. A 30 min conversation - provided you're asking the right 

questions - can be all the education that you need.

  What did you want to be growing up?

I wanted to be a soccer player like my pops. The old man played for 

Jomo Cosmos and Ratanang Maholosiane, both PSL teams at the time, and 

had mad skills. I was obsessed with soccer in primary and early high 

school. However, since the game did not translate in any financial 

success for him my dad went out of his way to kill my dream of going 

pro one day. He was all about school. Every time I see players coming 

out of the tunnel I secretly feel jealous ... That could have been 

your boy!

The advantage though is I took his genes so I take pleasure in 

whipping my mates at practically every sport .... I'm a beast *weezy 

voice*!

  Where do you see street wear in five years?

In 5 years, local street wear will be part of mainstream fashion. It 

will be a big sector of the fashion industry provided we don't F*&K it 

up! We could possibly also have one or two South African brands 

selling in the fashion capitals of the world.

  Am I a good employee?

LOL ... I plead the 5th!!

  What are your thoughts on the brands that are biting Head Honcho's designs?

To be frank, it's actually a complement. We're doing such a great job 

that brands that have been around longer than us are starting to 

'borrow' our blueprint. I won't mention names but there's a brand that 

has been in existence for close to 10 years - after Head Honcho came 

onto the scene they switched up their look. They went from 

graffiti-esque designs to looking very Honcho-like. Then you also have 

one or two chains that are simply ripping off our popular 'Stay Fresh 

Get Money' tees. But it's cool, we'll keep switching it up. We'll 

lead, they'll follow!

Please follow me on twitter?

I'll follow you if you stop retweeting Lady Gaga and twitpic'ing all 

your meals.