I sincerely admire African entertainers who are always on the look out to expand their brand and make extra money from their celebrity status.
However, this does not mean I should not consider how viability of some of the enterprises these African entertainers pursue in the world of business.
With a chain of struggling Ghanaian celebrity clothing lines, Sarkodie is ready to hit the markets with his clothing own line-Sark Collections.
Last year, we saw the likes of John Dumelo, Prince David Osei and several other Ghanaian celebrities launching their clothing lines. How far have they gone with these clothing lines? Is anyone even buying them?
Am I the only one who has realized that, the celebrities themselves (owners of these clothing lines) hardly wear anything from their own lines?
Apart from them wearing stuff from their clothing lines the first month of the launch, hoping to tell people what they are wearing, they never go back to them.
There are several enterprises that celebrities can venture into to make extra money. But it seems our African celebrities are not picking those ventures which are profitable in our African market.
Jay-Z , Diddy and others have clothing lines which are doing great. Does that mean Sarkodie should also launch one? To me, No…This is because Sarkodie belongs to a different market and his fan base is totally different from those named above.
READ ALSO: Why Most Africa Celebrities/Entertainers Are BROKE
Our celebrities must begin to look at the African market and establish what would be patronized by their fans to help them fetch the extra income they are looking for.
Clothing lines for the African fan who has little or no purchasing power is just over ambitious and impractical.
The question is; as much as you love Sarkodie and his music, would you proudly purchase and wear anything from his clothing line? I think I already know the answer to this question but I would love to hear it from you.
Just this morning, Nigerian super star-Genevieve Nnaji was in the news, rumored to be re-launching her clothing line too…
Is the African market ready for these ventures? I doubt if people will forgo the foreign and well known local brands for any of these clothing lines our African celebrities are coming out…
It wont work he shd ask Tic Tac,Obrafour and the lot before him who tried to do it and failed.As much as he is popular only a few to none will wear the clothes.Most Ghanaians love and are accustomed to their foregin labels.To be honest who wld be offered a Louis Vittoun or Gucci clothing and turn it down for Sark collection???
@Frog, trust me it will work out for him you can compare him to others neither do you know who he is working with
@Dr. Miyagi Atopa, I hear u and and really hope he succeds in this venture cos Ghanaians can be “mafia” when it comes to such things hence my skeptisim.I think this is the time Ghanaians must show they really love Sarkodie thru and thru
@Frog, my dear trust me he will make it dude is very smart and knows what he is doing I’m sure he got major people around him who are helping him
@Dr. Miyagi Atopa, What are you talking about? The article is not about the people one has around him to sell a product…It is about whether a particular product fits a particular market…
In this case, such celebrity clothing lines do not fit the African (especially the Ghanaian) market. It does not matter who is selling it, the market just won’t buy into it…
It is simply like selling thick winter coats in Ghana…There is no market for that.
And I bet when you are going out to your friends, you will prefer Sark collections to any other brand out there right? This is what I am talking about.
@Posted By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri, first of all my comment was not directed at you but to frog who was comparing Sarkodie with Tic Tac and Obrafour, I totally agree with you on your comment I want argue with you on that.
But what makes you think he want be succuesful because others came and gone and bear in mind that he has not shown his whole collection yet neither do you or me know who his target market are don’t you think is kinda early to judge a brother and by the way I can’t answer your last question because I haven’t seen the collection yet
Lets just wait and see what will happen
I am not judging him…
What makes me think he won’t success is this….
I am talking about the market…The readiness of the market to accept such ventures…Anyone could have done it and I would have pointed out the same to him or her…If you decide to go to Ghana to sell winter coats, I will tell you the same thing…If Mr B decides to go to Ghana to sell winter coats, I will tell him the same because it is the same market…No matter your marketing strategy, the market must be willing to buy…
You do not go to nursery children and try to sell them ipads, they have no purchasing power…No matter how you package the ipads, you won’t get a sale because they don’t have that purchasing power as a market.
Is like trying to sell meat to a group of vegetarians!
@Posted By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri, I understand where your coming from but than again what makes you think he is targeting Ghana only, don’t forget he got fans all over the world especially here in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Germany, The Netherlands etc. what makes you think he want be targeting those countries as well. Anyway you win this one I just fined out that his website http://www.imsarkodie.com no longer exist anymore so forget about the rest of my comment
@Dr. Miyagi Atopa, I am glad to tell you that this kind of thing does not work in Ghana especially things to do with Male ,just look at my wife confidence she launched her own brand people start to buy for just 5 or 6 months and it just start to shrink in terms of buying downwards not that the goods are not quality they are but with Ghanaians no no no,Ghanaian will use fake Gucci than using Sark in 2 or 3 yrs to come mark my words bro .
Am not gonna based my argument on others but what I have for you is such things does not work in Africa especially Ghana to be precise bro.
I will be happy if Ghanaian purchase made in Ghana goods than any other .
I want to tell you we the Ghanaians abroad use Ghanaian products more than Ghanaians at home n is a fact ,go to parties in uk n you will see how Ghanaians use home brands ,but back home they prefer American n European goods bro
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф),
NOTE:I DID NOT AIR MY VIEW TO BRING SAKODIE DOWN ,HE IS MY HOMMIE N I LIKE HIM PERSONALLY THATS WHY I DID ADVISED HIM IN TERMS OF WHAT I HAVE WITNESSED….
Sarko do your thing miracles do HAPPEN
@27cдгibre(Ф_ф), love your comment I will take notes of that
JUST WAIT AND SEE, PEOPLE WILL IMMITATE THESE CLOTHS AND SELL THEM CHEAPER THAN THE ORIGIONAL. THAT’S GH.
@KA NE WU, you got a good point
@ Chris and Dr, Miyagi, most the clothing line /business in Ghana don’t get far as a result of poor marketing. In my opinion, creating a website where people from outside Ghana can order the merchandise can help these celebrities generate extra money and also put their name on the map. Prince Davis Osei clothing line is amazing and I wanted to buy one for my husband as a Christmas gift . I went online to see if I can fine his clothing line but couldn’t fine it. If we want to do this business, we should seriously create website and also fine better personnel to update/manage the site on regular basis .This is just my opinion. What’s your take…
@AMA USA, I totally agree with you he needs to approach a department store, a boutique, or a private client, they’ll generally only be interested in buying his designs if he can deliver the finished product. either he starts:
1. Manufacture the product in-house by doing it himself or through people he hires
2. Pay a manufacture to produce the products for you or
3. License your ideas to a third party manufacturer for a percentage of royalties.
What he needs to do is allow his team to do some more Fashion Marketing & Merchandising.
@Dr. Miyagi Atopa, great ideas ; he need to hire u lol
@AMA USA, lol I’m busy with my own but he needs to step up his game