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From Los Angeles: Shawn Janet

Let’s be frank: True Religion SA boss, Shawn Janet, is not normal. His mind and mouth work rapid-fire, and one gets the feeling that even he is caught off-guard by his own off-beat thinking at times. And you know what? Thank G-d he’s not “normal”, or he might have grown up to be a doctor or lawyer living in a cookie-cut cluster complex – and SA’s fashion-loving public would be the poorer for it.

We meet at his Melrose Arch apartment. Janet has been back for less than a week, following a 22-year stint in Los Angeles. Mini, the (legal) Mexican immigrant – a Chihuahua – is running around, nipping at Janet’s heels as he rustles up some nuts and soft drinks. “It’s great to be back,” he says as he unpacks a Clicks bag. “Look! Safur Blue eye drops! I love them!” He launches into a list of South African-isms that he most missed. “…Creme Soda, and slap chips, and toasted chicken mayo too. And the stunning people, who most define this place. When you’re sick in bed here, 20 people will bring you chicken soup.”
Looking back, Janet was living a “normal” life some two decades ago, working at Derbers in town, hitting the clubs of Hillbrow and “making the scene” in Umhlanga and Camps Bay. “I worked at Derbers since I was 13 – Saturdays and school and university holidays. They wanted me to become a director. Then my best friend moved to LA and said, ‘You have to come over. It’s divine!’ I landed in LA in 1987 with $3 000 and a few contacts.”

Janet’s American career was off to an illustrious start. “I first worked for the Krok family, doing PR for their Epilady brand. Then I did a stint in New York, as they produced a Broadway show, Meet Me in St Louis. I then joined a South African-linked fashion company, Tokai. Poleci, as it’s now known, is a successful brand with stores in LA and New York. But by 1999, I started over again with no money. I went into the private label business and launched my own design label.”

Within a few years Janet was running a $12-million business with 23 employees. His label had been picked up by the young Hollywood set and stocked at Kitson and Fred Segal. In 2004 Janet was talking to Jeff Lubell, owner and creative director of the cult American jean brand True Religion. “‘Find me a South African distributor for True Religion,’ said Lubell. I slept on it and thought, ‘I could do that.’”

Since then, SA’s become one of True Religion’s key markets. The brand’s local appeal quickened the pace of Janet’s visits home. “I’ve been coming out five times a year for the past five years. Around July last year, I started thinking it’s time to move back. There’s something inexplicable in the air here.” Janet relishes SA’s changes and new energies. “SA’s become very sophisticated in its food, décor, cellphone technology systems and virtually everything else in the lifestyle arena. The only space it’s lagging is in fashion. Local designers like Black Coffee, Klûk/CDGT and Craig Port are world-class, but we don’t appreciate them enough. And the fashion pack [media] is more fluent than their American counterparts. They’re hungrier and not as jaded, and have more of a global take on the fashion scene.”

There’s work to be done, something high-energy, which Janet embraces. “We’re in final negotiations with Emporio Armani for a Jo’burg store and we’re looking at a stand-alone True Religion store with its full product range.” Stressed? Hardly. “Since landing everything’s fallen into place again. I’m just waiting for my Louis Vuitton steamer trunks to arrive,” he says with a wink and a laugh.   

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