Designer Jay-Tee’s iShowSpeed gamble
DESIGNER Jay-Tee may have dressed local and regional icons such as Winky D, Jah Prayzah and South African music star Kwesta, but none ranks above American YouTuber iShowSpeed.
“The iShowSpeed moment ranks top of the list because right now he is the most famous person worldwide. He has toured almost all continents and countries and hasl over 47 million subscribers on Twitch alone, not to mention YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
“All these numbers are bigger than those of everyone I have designed for before, which means this unlocks the world market for me through that moment,” said Jay-Tee in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com.
Jay-Tee’s sentiments are cemented by the numbers iShowSpeed commands online, which exceed 150 million, making him arguably the biggest streamer in the world.
That Jay-Tee managed to capture the attention of the YouTube streamer during his recent visit to Zimbabwe is a feather in the cap for the talented designer.
When iShowSpeed released the itinerary for his Africa tour, with Zimbabwe among the 20 countries he would visit, Jay-Tee decided to take a wild gamble.
“When I heard that iShowSpeed was coming to Zim, I just confidently started making a jacket for him, because I know I am one of the very few local designers who could be allowed to get to him by virtue of being a celebrity fashion designer and having designed for big names like Winky D, Kofi Olomide, Jah Prayzah, etc.
“I later asked for contacts of the organisers and, luckily, I got hold of them. They gave me information on where to be in order to meet him,” he said.
It was a gamble that paid off, catching the attention of the American YouTuber during his four-hour stream, which garnered more than a million views.
Jay-Tee explained the idea behind the jacket, which incorporated a touch of national fabric and had iShowSpeed’s face printed on the back.
“I wanted him to have something that screamed Zimbabwe without even looking at it twice, hence I put the Zim flag on the cuffs, rib and collar. Then I used the national fabric for the body, and I had to put his face and name on it as well so he could see it was custom-made for him specifically.
“I had other options of using any fabric other than the national fabric, but I chose that for the love of my country,” he said.
Having experienced his breakthrough at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when he designed Winky D’s outfits for the Gara Mumba concert, Jay-Tee has shown no signs of slowing down on the fashion scene.
Jay-Tee has become the go-to designer for the majority of artists owing to his unique and creative designs.
A rare moment with a global influencer will always be etched in the memory and rich portfolio of Jay-Tee.
“In his actual words, after I explained what ‘Chibaba CheStreaming’ meant, he said, ‘That’s hard! W’s in the chat’, which means he liked the jacket and told his chat to put some Ws, symbolising a win for him,” said Jay-Tee. _*NewZimbabwe*_
