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Celebrating Giorgio Armani

Tuesday 03rd of April 2007 12:43:05 AM

For Kevin Ombija, graduating college and deciding to pursue a career in fashion instead of law upset a lot of people, including his family in Kenya. “As a little boy I sketched designs on paper trying to convince my mother to make her dresses in my designs. She never really took me seriously. I didn't even know I would spend my life pursuing a fashion career. Some people find it shocking that a lawyer could turn to be a designer, but if you know the history of fashion, then such stories are not unique. For example, celebrated Italian designer Giorgio Armani studied medicine for a few years before dropping out to pursue a fashion career, and look how successful he is,” said Ombija.

Starting his own hip hop clothing line, Mau Mau University, has not been easy. In the tradition of other famous clothing designers and hip hop celebrities, Ombija started with two T-Shirts. He wore one wherever he went and gave the other to his brother, who was in college at the time. After a while other people began asking for t-shirts and he gave several to friends for free. Then Ombija got his first big break, selling T-Shirts at a hip hop concert in Kenya. After giving away shirts to the backstage crew and a few key public personalities, Ombija began to see his efforts pay off.

“I got Kenya's leading and pioneer hip-hop group Kalamashaka to wear my Tees and also got an opportunity to sell several of what I had, and they sold out in two hours. I got several other channels to sell my work and they did well, and I even managed to get a store to retail them,” said Ombija.

Now that his Tees are becoming more popular, Ombija plans on expanding his business with new designs and larger markets.

(c)Fergus Currie, www.sxc.hu

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