#OnShelf: From surfing content to eco fashion culture

by Louise Burgers. It’s a mixed bag of launches, campaigns and sustainability initiatives from Corona Studios, Guess, Rhodes Quality and Shoprite.

Free Surfer launches on Freedom Day

Free Surfer, an original, digital content series featuring South African surfers, Cass Collier and Khanyisa Mngqibisa, is available on YouTube after being launched on Freedom Day to symbolise the freedom the ocean has brought the duo. This is the second local production from Corona Studios, and Free Surfer deals with challenging stigmas of belonging, including defying prejudices based on race and gender. Master of riding the barrel, winner of the Reef ISA Big Wave Championship in 1999, and one of the top surf coaches in the world, today surfers come from around the world to be taught by Collier at his surf school in Muizenberg, from where he teaches children from disadvantaged communities how to surf. The second episode of Free Surfer recognises internationally qualified lifeguard and surfing coach, Khanyisa Mngqibisa, who grew up in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, in a single parent household. She fell in love with swimming aged 12, got into lifesaving in high school and started surfing at 21. Corona Studios is the Corona brand’s purpose-marketing project to highlight its sustainability efforts; as well as those people whose values align with the brand, and who are making a positive impact on the world.

Watch now: “The ocean is freedom”- Cass Collier / World Big Wave Surf Champion

Watch now: “When I’m surfing, I’m free” – Khanyisa Mngqibisa / Internationally Qualified Lifeguard & Surf Coach

Rhodes Quality relaunches Chakalaka Range

The new range of chakalaka from Rhodes Quality consists of three variants: Chakalaka Mild and Spicy, Chakalaka Extra Hot and Spicy, and Chakalaka Hot and Spicy. The new recipes “deliver more crunch, 17% more veg and a distinctive spice blend in new easy-to-open packaging”, says Rhodes. Chakalaka is a spicy South African staple made with onions, tomatoes, and often beans and vegetables. It is usually served hot or cold, over pap, with meat dishes, bread and more recently, stews, pastas, and baked pies. The new Rhodes Quality chakalaka range will be seen on shelves from April 2022 at retailers nationwide, coinciding with the launch of a new campaign. There is also a Chakalaka Challenge, which involves consumers taking a picture of their meal featuring the Rhodes Quality chakalaka variant used and sharing it online with the hashtag #ChakalakaChallenge to enter.

Guess launches Eco fashion range

Guess, one of FrontierCo’s brands, has been making some of the best denim in the world for almost 40 years – now, however, it is doing so in a more sustainable way with the new Guess Eco collection launched in Johannesburg in April. It plays into the idea of circular fashion, meaning that clothing and fabric should be re-worn and recycled. The Guess Eco capsule collection is made with environmentally-conscious materials and manufacturing processes, using Nano Technology, Ozone Technology, Laser Technology, next generation fibre technology, Tencel denim and Rifbra Technogy, to craft the best performance denim and non-denim apparel. The upshot for the eco conscious brand, is that less water used in the denim-wash process during production; recycled plastic bottles are broken down and used in pocket linings; and new technologies and processes reduce the use of chemicals.

CAMPAIGN: Shoprite serves 9,000 meals in KZN daily

Shoprite has donated R500,000 worth of tinned food and bottled water to communities affected by the devastating KwaZulu-Natal floods, while its fleet of Mobile Soup Kitchens continue to serve 9,000 meals in the province every single day. Essential food parcels – containing rice, maize meal, cooking oil and other non-perishables – and blankets, were distributed to affected families in partnership with Gift of the Givers and Ashraful Aid. Customers wishing to support relief efforts can donate as little as R5 to the #ActForChange Fund at the till points in all Shoprite, Checkers and Usave supermarket nationwide. All donations collected go to vetted beneficiary organisations assisting with relief efforts in KwaZulu-Natal. “We remain in close contact with the relevant organisations assisting with relief efforts to determine what aid is required and how we can support relief efforts during this climate disaster,” said Sanjeev Raghubir, sustainability manager at the Shoprite Group. “The frequency of climate-related disasters, like the KwaZulu-Natal floods, are likely to increase and the Shoprite Group is committed to building the resilience and adaptive capacity of the communities that it is a part of.”

Main image credit: Supplied.

Louise Burgers is the Publisher and Editor and Co-Founder of RetailingAfrica.com. She has spent over 20 years writing about the FMCG retailing, marketing, media and advertising industry in South Africa and on the African continent. She has specialised in local and Africa consumer trends and is a passionate Afro-optimist who believes it is Africa’s time to rise again and that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will be a global gamechanger in the next decade.

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