Proudly South African and establishing her brand through South Africa and worldwide.
Based in Durban North, with many stores around South Africa, she is our very own fashion designer with her own label! Meet Leigh Schubert, and dive into her creative life.
Fashion design has always been something Leigh has wanted to do. Her mom used to sew as a hobby, and Leigh always jumped on the machine after school. Her mother would give her scraps of fabric from which Leigh would make clothes for her Barbies. Leigh also liked to page through magazines and look at the fashion competitions and would draw up a fake submission board.
It was only natural that Leigh would go on to study fashion in Johannesburg. She left school in standard eight and got her matric in fashion. This led to her getting a job in the commercial side of fashion for a local German manufacturer. After moving her way up from coordinator to designer, Leigh became the company’s youngest merchandiser! She then made a move to Mr Price as a buyer.
“The job gave me a business understanding of how to create and retail clothes and do bookment planning. So, by the time I did my own collection, which was after I won the invited designer category of the DDC, I had a pretty good understanding of how to run a business and be creative,” Leigh says.
In 2002, Leigh took the jump and started her own business. “I started by stocking boutiques or on a consignment basis at various South African designer emporiums, and my business grew and grew over more and more rails. I’ve been stocking stores around the country ever since. I’ve also been to several trade shows and stocked boutiques and small stores in America, the UK and Australia.”
Leigh started developing her own online store between 2016 and 2018 and has grown it to be a huge outlet for her business. She has also opened her own stores over the last seven months, with the flagship store situated in Gateway, a beautiful shop that looks like a conservatory. She also opened stores in Cape Town in Table Bay Mall and the Watershed (a South African-only mall) at the V&A Waterfront. These are great spots for tourists! Her other stores are to be located in The Zone in Rosebank and Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria. Leigh plans to open up a few more over the next few months!
Postage stamps, photographs and artists are all forms that inspire some designers, but it doesn’t work like that for Leigh. “My inspiration progresses from one season to the next. I’ll see something that I’m inspired by but can’t exactly say what that is. It sort of just goes through my brain and pops out!” Leigh says.
Her business designs their own prints, most of them in-house as well. “I take what my customers like to buy from me and then update those variations. We don’t repeat styles too much because we want to remain exclusive and unique, but we always do an update. So, if somebody loves a set, we’ll create a new set that they would also love. My newest designs are an evolution from ones that did well before,” Leigh explains.
Leigh’s 2022 range includes gorgeous bright colours and geometric prints that have been a favourite of hers and her customers. You’ll still find a lot of comfort wear and smart casual, work-from-home or casual style sport suits, including soft blazers and joggers, that you can wear to the office or downplay in a casual environment.
“We make quite cheeky prints with tigers, a bit of Japanese inspiration and, as we go into summer, geometric patterns, colour blocking and pleating, which I haven’t done in a while. I’m very excited about it,” Leigh adds.
Who wouldn’t want a proudly South African designer outfit? Find her newest collection on her website or visit her Gateway store.
www.leighschubert.com
Words: Kai Coates
Photos: Simon Deiner