He took his baby steps at Kenya’s biggest informal used clothes market at Gikomba in Nairobi.
Every day, he would wake up early in the morning to thrift at the market, buying clothes on the cheap and selling them to family members and siblings' friends for a profit.
The stereotypical business scale-up story from Gikomba is such that traders invest in more bales, driving earnings by moving bigger volumes.
Sam Omindo has had an enviable entrepreneurial journey. In a short time, he has risen from an inconspicuous secondhand clothes seller to one of the outstanding local clothing line owners dressing celebrities and lately, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He took his baby steps at Kenya’s biggest informal used clothes market at Gikomba in Nairobi.
Every day, he would wake up early in the morning to thrift at the market, buying clothes on the cheap and selling them to family members and siblings' friends for a profit.
“I would go to Gikomba, get them (the clothes), clean them and then resell them. So, over time I established my small clientele,” the 28-year old says.
Business was good. The stereotypical business scale-up story from Gikomba is such that traders invest in more bales, driving earnings by moving bigger volumes. Sam chose to venture into the fashion business.
Light bulb moment
His interest was aroused during a trip to Istanbul with his family.
“Though it was more like a touristic visit initially, I discovered Istanbul was a fashion capital in itself. It had a robust fashion and textile industry which really impressed me,” he says the Bachelors of Business Information Technology degree holder from Strathmore University.
On his return, he started importing clothes such as suits, shirts and clothes from Turkey that he sold to his clientele.
But he soon realised that the majority of imported clothes were meant for European body types.
“So, for instance the blazers and pants would either be too big or too small. It essentially created a need that had to be addressed,” Mr Omindo who graduated in 2016 says.
Thereafter, he did some research about fashion. He wanted to know where the clothes came from.
“I stumbled on two brands called Henry Poole & Co and Gieves & Hawkes in the United Kingdom (UK). So, I started reading about these brands.”
“These are the brands that actually made the suits and so my next question was how can I create a brand that has got a cultural consciousness in it because I felt like there is no brand that speaks about the Kenyan culture. What you perceive as a Kenyan culture is a Maasai shuka but is that really true of who we are?” He poses.
Later, together with his co-founder Kipkemei Baliach, they started Genteel Fashion & Grooming, a fashion company that majors in bespoke tailoring and ready-to-wear men and women attires in 2018.
“For the bespoke, it is customised. Here if somebody wants a suit, a customised shirt, there are some people whose body types just cannot fit into a ready-to-wear product (they need to get fitted),
“On this particular range our flagship product is the suits. And we have three classes of suits.”
Price range
The suits cost between Sh25,000-Sh35,000 for those on a budget. The mid-range suits cost at least Sh100,000 (the fabrics are imported from the UK) and higher range around Sh500,000.
They import pure wool fabrics from the UK and Belgium. The budget suits are mostly made from wool and polyester, which are sourced from Westland and Ngara in Nairobi.
Recently, the company was commissioned to dress Mr Kenyatta during the European Tour of the Magical Kenya Open at the Muthaiga Golf Club as well as 12-members of the club, which is a mixture of gentlemen and ladies by Chairman Ronald Meru and Christine Ochola.
“This was a first tour they were doing in a three-year period and they wanted it to be something remarkable. This is also the last term of the President who has been supporting the European Magical Kenya open year in year out.”
“The cost of the blazer to be very sincere was subsided because it is something that they want to continually sell. It was lower than our standard costing for a blazer because a blazer for us would set you back around Sh20,000.”
Besides Mr Kenyatta, the duo has also dressed entertainers such as Nyashinski, Sauti Sol, among others.
Mr Omindo who started the firm with Sh10,000 from Gikomba says they received grants from British Council under the creative DNA cohort last year as well as funds from private investors and well-wishers.
Quality checks
They have also attended programmes like the fashion product club that was being run by Meta.
At their store in Gigiri, the process of making a cloth begins with taking customer details, sourcing fabric, creating clients full description (including measurement and fabric), discussing with tailors and then processing the order.
Then, they undergo quality checks to confirms whether orders match the client's instructions before being dispatched to their stores in Karen and Gigiri.
“Every single piece is made in Nairobi. We work worth artisans from low-income areas like Kibera some of whom have been with us for at least four years. We train them, upskill them and enforce the kind of quality that we know can be sold on an international level. Everything is made right here in Kenya,”
The company has employed over 15-employees both directly and indirectly from tailors, sellers to distributors along the supply chain.
They credit a programme that they went through called flashmobs at the university that allowed them to experiment on fashion
“We did like a small collection and then asked guys to post and repost and we were trending on Instagram at the time, which was really exciting but we were still trying to understand exactly what the fashion industry looks like.”
However, he says the cost of raw material has increased by between two to three percent, which is eating on profit.
