Meet Mmokele, the architect that loves fashion designing

Whoever said men are unable to multi-task had not met Lesley Mmokele, owner of Les Wes X-Clusives.

Under this brand are his clothing store and an architectural firm. A practising architect, Mmokele says he’s always known that he was gifted when it came to the creative arts, fashion designing included.

He did not study fashion design but he holds a Master’s degree in Architecture which he acquired at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in South Africa. Before he decided which one of the creative arts to pursue, he examined which one of them he could study at a professional level and decided on Architecture. His clothing store, Les Wears, is situated in Game City and stocks 80 percent of items of clothing he has designed.

The designs that he makes are made into clothes at his factory workshop in Commerce Park. The clothes are smart casual wear but he also makes suits. The shop, that opened in 2013, was funded from his own savings, as he had always known that one day he would open his own clothing shop. He says that designing has always been a passion for him and remembers how when at school, he used to sew his own clothes and those of other people.

He is training two young people at the workshop to work for him on a full time basis. He also takes individual orders. He has designed and made clothes for more than 20 weddings and so far he has not had any complaints from his clients. He attributes this to correct planning, effective time management and being able to delegate some of his work to his employees.

He will strive this year to acquire more funds to expand his workshop capacity in order to handle big orders.