Introducing Stitch Elevate Chats: real stories from South African retail founders

South Africa’s business landscape is full of stories that rarely get told: twin sisters grinding leather soles on a garden bench grinder, a student styling headwraps on TikTok because she could not afford to braid her hair or an engineering company that accidentally created a fashion brand. These kinds of stories shape the industry, but they rarely make it into the mainstream.

Stitch Elevate Chats was created to bring more of these stories to life, and to bring out some of the best lessons that helped leading South African brands grow. This series is a collection of video conversations between the Stitch Express team and the founders, operators and builders behind some of South Africa's most interesting retail and e-commerce brands discussing what it takes to build, grow, and sustain a business in South Africa.

Common threads

Across eight episodes and counting, a handful of themes run through almost every conversation.

Nobody takes a straight path. 

Duncan Colville studied clinical psychology before building one of South Africa's four Shopify Plus accredited agencies, TDMC. Katy Ward ran marketing for fashion brands before turning a hobby into Jasper & Jute, the country's leading online art curation platform. Tyler Whittaker was a student who just wanted a decent golf shirt before starting Custom Apparel. The founders in this series often got into brand building sideways rather than head on, which appears to be the rule rather than the exception.

Bootstrapping forces better decisions. 

Tamia Mokoena at Tol'Thema used content as capital when she had no money to spend on marketing, building an audience of thousands before she had a single product to sell. Sweet Peas Handmade co-founders Stacy Cheves and Che Peinke grew their brand entirely through Instagram with zero ad spend. Jake Axelrod built Metalab from his life savings during COVID lockdown and dealt with chronic stock-outs for years before a strategic acquisition gave the brand the resources it needed. These founders did not have the luxury of large budgets, and it forced them to solve problems creatively.

The checkout experience can make or break trust.

We also discuss the impact of the payments experience on conversion and customer retention. Arresha Ramsaywak talks us through how Pay by bank gives Edgars shoppers a familiar way to pay, while Katy Ward describes the conversion lift when Jasper & Jute added Apple Pay and Capitec Pay to their checkout. Given customers who recognise their preferred payment method at checkout are more likely to complete a purchase, offering multiple payment methods via a reliable payments platform that won’t result in dropoffs is table stakes rather thana nice-to-have.

Content as a key growth engine. 

Organic content, founder-led storytelling, and community-building appear far more often than paid media as the primary growth lever. Tamia grew Tol'Thema through TikTok styling videos. Sweet Peas built their following by sharing the craft behind every shoe. Curve Gear chose organic content over paid ads even after opening 15 physical stores. Across the series, the brands that invested early in content saw the strongest and most sustainable growth.

The online vs in-person decision is more nuanced than it looks. 

Custom Apparel stays fully online with no plans to open stores, because the numbers work better. Curve Gear went the opposite direction, scaling from one online store to 15 physical locations in four years, and found that in-store and online sales compound rather than compete. Metalab started as a direct-to-consumer brand and expanded into Checkers. Each founder worked through this question differently based on their customers, their category, and their margins.

Highlights from the series so far

Episode 1 follows Arresha Ramsaywak and the 16-person team that brought Edgars online, including the revelation that over 96% of their traffic comes from mobile devices.

Episode 2 features Tyler Whittaker of Custom Apparel, who saw a gap between expensive international golf brands and generic local blanks, and filled it with funky, affordable designs sold exclusively online.

Episode 3 introduces Stacy and Che from Sweet Peas Handmade, twin sisters who recalled their first 200 orders by hand and now run their own footwear factory making every pair to order.

Episode 4 sits down with Duncan Colville of TDMC, whose agency has built over 200 Shopify stores and offers a 'Website in a Week' service for merchants who need to move fast.

Episode 5 covers Neill Kropman of Curve Gear, a brand that turned industrial safety boots into a lifestyle workwear category and scaled to 15 stores in four years.

Episode 6 features Katy Ward of Jasper & Jute, who made art accessible through a 'try before you buy' model and holds the exclusive South African rights to photographer Slim Aarons' collection.

Episode 7 captures Jake Axelrod of Metalab, who turned down four acquisition offers before finding the right partner in USN, and whose hand-drawn creative direction defines every product the brand releases.

Episode 8 follows Tamia Mokoena of Tol'Thema, who treated attention as currency, built an audience before building a product, and now dresses some of South Africa's most well-known women.

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Check out the full series on our YouTube playlist here, and soon on the Stitch website. We regularly host brunches and events designed for founders and operators at growing businesses in South Africa. Keep an eye out for our next Elevate event by following us on LinkedIn.

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FAQs

What is Stitch Elevate Chats?

Stitch Elevate Chats is a video series produced by Stitch Express featuring conversations with South African e-commerce founders and operators. Each episode covers the story behind a brand, including growth strategies, business decisions, and the role of payments in building trust with customers.

How many episodes of Elevate Chats are there?

There are currently eight published episodes, with new episodes released regularly. Guests include founders from fashion, wellness, art, golf apparel, workwear, footwear, and e-commerce agencies.

Where can I watch Stitch Elevate Chats?

Episodes are available on YouTube and featured on the Stitch blog. Each episode also has an accompanying blog article with key takeaways and a cleaned-up transcript.

Who hosts Stitch Elevate Chats?

Episodes are hosted by members of the Stitch Express team, including Jani Landman (Head of Express Sales), Ushir Bhoolia, Emma Treagus, and Nyasha Batidzirai. Interviews are recorded live at Stitch Elevate Brand Series events across South Africa.

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