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Front Row with Muna
What better way to usher in 2025 than with our next FRM interviewees, Esethu Cenga & Tshepo Bhengu, whom are undoubtedly evolving the landscape of local online responsible shopping with their latest invention, Muna.
Muna is an interactive and immersive fashion shopping platform which allows you access to emerging African brands within a curated setting. Besides having access to this exciting pool of young designers my favourite aspect of Muna's platform is their incorporation of technology. Unique features such as their Style Lab allow the users themselves to craft their own outfits according to their individual taste on the portal–a distinctive move towards Web 3.0.
Personally I feel like the duo-creators of Rewoven have struck gold once again with Muna. In virtual conversation with the pair of Esethu & Tshepo, they mention:
"With our vast experience in the industry through our work at Rewoven and Future of Fashion, we have been incredibly fortunate to cross paths and work with the exceptional people behind some of South Africa’s best brands. The brands we have started our journey with are those brands–people we know, whose products we trust, and whose brand stories we find compelling."
You can now shop exciting local brands such as Rethread, Fuata Moyo, Loskop, Artclub and Friends, Float Apparel, Sama Sama, Research Unit and Deuce Drip–all on the Muna platform.
So join us on our first FRM journey of 2025 as we take a detour into the "Everything Muna"–how Esethu & Tshepo founded the platform & identity, the true meaning of responsible shopping, incorporating 'big tech' into their new platform, and more.
Would you mind introducing yourselves and including a short description of what you do?
TB: I am Tshepo Bhengu. I am an accountant by profession and a strategist in practice. I am an entrepreneur, obsessed with solving problems that I believe advance us as a humanity.
EC: I am Esethu Cenga, I am a development scholar and a passionate sustainability practitioner. I fundamentally believe that the human species cannot ensure its survival and development without adopting sustainable practices that account for not just profit, but also for people, planet and general wellbeing.
Could you tell me a bit more about Muna? From the ideation behind the name to what the brand identity of the online store represents to you.
MUNA: The name came about with us the team simply brainstorming–really just throwing a bunch of random names around. We landed on muna, a simple name we found to be memorable and a whole lot of fun to brand.
How did you select the specific brands which you'd be stocking on Muna? What was the process like? You've got some really exciting emerging local brands there which is soo refreshing to see!
MUNA: With our vast experience in the industry through our work at Rewoven and Future of Fashion, we have been incredibly fortunate to cross paths and work with the exceptional people behind some of South Africa’s best brands. The brands we have started our journey with are those brands–people we know, whose products we trust, and whose brand stories we find compelling.
The process was a fairly straightforward one where we simply reached out to our collegues, telling them about Muna and requesting to have them be a part of the platform. Now we are working on growing the catalogue and making the experience on the platform richer and more enjoyable for our users.
I really enjoy how detailed the product descriptions are on the website. From who the garments were produced by, materials used, location, and more. Why did you opt to provide such a robust and comprehensive overview of the garment details on your ecommerce platform?
MUNA: Our research has shown that our users, who are educated and live in urban areas, knowledgeable about the impacts of fast fashion, and generally discerning, are interested in this type of information. Beyond that, we want to foster connections between our users and the brands on our platforms. We believe that sharing these brands' stories will help us achieve this goal.
What is the definition of "conscious shopping" according to team Muna? And why do you feel it's important that the consumers of today shop consciously?
MUNA: Conscious shopping means buying better, not more. It's about choosing products and purchasing from brands that align with your values. Our belief is that fast fashion is net negative for both society and the environment. With that in mind, we believe it is everyone’s responsibility to consume consciously–whether it is fashion, food, technology etc.
My favourite element of the entire website is the Style Lab! Sooo genius. What was the thinking surrounding creating this feature? It's giving deep tech vibes merged with fashion which I adore.
MUNA: As a brand, we aim to achieve enthusiastic preference for our platform and the style lab is one of those features of our offering that we hope provides an interactive and memorable shopping experience for our users. We are committed as a brand to pushing back against fast fashion and the consumption behaviour that it promotes. In doing that, we understand that this is a David and Goliath scenario so it forces us to be innovative and go above and beyond to deliver a high quality product to our users.
What else does Muna have in store (excuse the pun) in 2025?
MUNA: Plenty–more fun, more collaborations and even better technology.
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