Conscious Brands Link Music and Fashion

With well recognised brands like Smallboi under this Namibian designer’s wings, it is not surprising that Ingo Shanyenge has garnered quite the following, especially from the hip-hop industry.

Once again, Namibia’s leading hip-hop group Black Vulcanite have brought Shanyenge on board for their journey towards what they hope will be their first Namibian Annual Musical Award (NAMA). This is however not the first time that there has been a collaboration between the two.

For three years now, Black Vulcanite has endorsed the brand, making for the biggest partnership between music and fashion in Namibia. Shanyenge didn’t only build his brand on a strong concept of consciousness but also as a way to channel his creativity. “Ingo’s brand is a great fit for Black Vulcanite because it is founded on the same principles, the need to etch out an Afrikan contemporary aesthetic and hip-hop narrative that reflects the times,” Black Vulcanite member Mark Mushiva says.

Shanyenge is in agreement, as he tells me how well his brand and the Black Vulcanite brand work together. “They don’t do mainstream music but music that makes a statement and I do the same with my brand,” he says. He points out that both these brands aim to emphasise the need to promote African culture and identity.

Mark’s words are clear testament to this. “Black Vulcanite has always been concerned with disrupting the status quo, to reflect the pluralism of an African identity to a world that has only seen us in a single light. Expressing a collective culture in an individualistic style has been the artistic motivation of both brands.”

The group picked Shanyenge over thousands of international and local brands mainly because of their own unique experiences.

About the brand, impeccable quality, much like that of Black Vulcanite’s deep, conscious music, stands out. “We take proper care to make sure that everything we make is of impeccable quality and is uncompromisingly authentic. We might not sell the most units but the product is always true to who we are as creatives. Everything else is just society,” says Mark.