Receiving a suit as a gift to wear on Christmas day from his father way back in 1989 is what triggered a passion for fashion in designer Calvin Shilabje.
Upholding his childhood dream, Shilabje’s was set on shaking up the industry with his own designs of bespoke suits.
Now having dressed the likes of Teko Modise, Dr Tumi, Theo Baloyi and Black Coffee, the fashion designer and tailor from Pretoria has become a go-to haven for many men who need to look the part.
Shilabje’s company, Style Gallery 85, has a studio for consultations, fittings and showcasing the tailor’s work.
Speaking to Business Report about his fashion journey, Shilabje said: “Immediately after completing high school I started working, because there were no funds for me to further my studies. I used to sell in taxi ranks; belts, wallets, sunglasses, shades etc. I worked for FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) at Pick n Pay as a cleaner, and after that I moved to Tiger Brands for six years. After my period at Tiger Brands, I decided to resign and go back to school to study Business Retail Management at the Tshwane University of Technology.”
On what sparked is interest in fashion at an early age, the 37-year-old said: “My dad bought me my first suit in 1989, it was a double-breasted suit for Christmas. As a person who grew up back in those days where on Sundays there was no excuse but to suit up for church or weddings or any weekend event for that matter, that exposed me to a lot of diverse fashion and made me really fall in love with fashion. From there it gradually grew to actually learning the art of having to create the clothes.”
Shilabje says his passion was an amazing enabler and helped him accomplish many things.
"For me, the love and passion led me to different places where I would absorb as much as I could in terms of having to master the art of creating tailor-made suits. I originally studied Business Retail Management where fashion was one of the modules. As I was more inclined to fashion, I would spend time researching more about tailor-made suits on the internet and also learning from different tailors across South Africa. I also worked for various boutique stores that specialised in men’s tailor-made clothing. I also learnt a great deal through studying international events and places that are big on tailor-made suits, such as Savile Row in England as well as the Pitti Uomo in Italy.“
The 3 fundamentals of a well tailor made suit : The Fabrics, The Fit and The Craftsmanship @StyleGallery85 we pay attention to those cornerstones when making each suit... pic.twitter.com/zZyqeup5jH
— Calvin Shilabje @StyleGallery85 (@CShilabje) August 12, 2022
He further elaborated on the benefits of having a garment tailored versus purchasing clothing from a store.
“E- commerce is a brilliant idea for ready-made garments and for people who would not mind wearing these garments. As far as tailoring is concerned, it is quite a challenge to have that type of setting. For example when you do fittings you would need to do more than one fitting to make sure that the garment fits properly and that the details are very clear on the garment,” Shilabje told Business Report.
“The benefits of a tailor-made suit is that the garment is made for you (and) every part of your body is well covered. The garment is made for your body. Our bodies differ a lot; for example, if I go to a boutique to buy a ready-made jacket, the arms would be shorter. So when using the standardised measurements, it would not cater for my specific need.”
The budding entrepreneur says paying attention to the finer details is what sets his clothing apart.
“Detailing for me is something that I have often seen people omit but to me, it is the most important part of the design. We go to the finer small details of how we actually do the cutting of the garment, to carrying out the stitching of the garment, to making of the buttonholes. We take particular attention to the details as small and fine as they are. We also pride ourselves in the type of fabrics that we use. We source the best for all our garments that many tailors may not even have access to. Thirdly, it is the fitting, which is very important to us, we make the bespoke that fits people to the T,” he said.
On the pricing of his suits, Shilabje said: “Our price range is affected by various factors, from fabrics to also the specifications of the client at that particular time. Normally the price range starts from R10 000 going upwards.
“Like any other business our dream is to continue to grow and ensure that we introduce more people to the art of fine dressing. One of our dreams is to actually have a gentlemen’s showroom where we can potentially expand to adding more products to our catalogue, like shoes. We are also looking into collaborating with more fabric makers where people can be able to choose fabrics from different mills, from across the world. As well as expansion to actually catering for women in our catalogue.”
BUSINESS REPORT