Thatiso Dube’s childhood dream is manifesting right in front of his eyes. The founder and creative visionary behind the popular local fashion and lifestyle brand GALXBOY is growing its national footprint.
What began as a high school hobby is now a brand that has taken up its own place at the table. This is the case both locally and, soon, globally.
He disclosed that he is in talks with a few malls in Dubai, UK, and Namibia. He also plans to shortly launch GALXBOY’s international shipping.
All this with no formal training in the type of business and brand building he is becoming a big player in.
The demand for his brand is so huge that he is set to open two new flagship stores in the country’s bustling metropolis. Two new stores will be unveiled this month at the Mall of Africa and The Zone in Rosebank.
Huge increase in demand
“We have a huge increase in demand, and not everyone is able to access our store online. So we are trying to get these physical stores to accommodate everyone,” said Dube.
Dube began his journey in 2008 while in high school, when he printed T-shirts for his friends.
Speaking to Sunday World, Dube shared that the brand was initially called Cheese Boy and Cheese Girl. He then decided to merge the two and came up with Cheese Girlxboy, which later turned into GALXBOY.
Beefing up on customer service
Many customers have come forward to complain about the quality of the GALXBOY brand. Dube says he plans to improve this going forward by increasing the customer service department.
“We have hired more people to deal with the queries that customers have about orders and quality. For some products, it is the first time we make them, and there will probably be errors until we get it right. It is a developing thing that is getting better as we go,” said Dube.
Since the inception of the brand, Dube says one of the biggest highlights so far has been having more than eight stores. He highlighted that growth has also been a challenge, especially in an industry where he is not really a trained professional.
Entering the global market to stay ahead of the game
“Our target is to compete internationally, and that is the standard that we want to live by. We don’t really compete with any other local brands. We set ourselves high so that we can do the same quality as the international brands. And that’s how we stay ahead.”
“We did a pop-up in Dubai last year, and it went well. So it is something that we want to look at, and we have done our research. It is something we are willing to risk and try out.”
