Friday Fashion Feature – Petrol or Milk (Exclusive Shxt)

Petrol or Milk is an urban South African brand founded by Siyabonga Khumbela. It is an Apparel and Luxury Accessories Brand with team members, Brian Mkhabela, Masana Mbhalati (Cardo), and OZ. I recently met up with Cardo, a good friend of mine and also a rapper, and as we got to Kitcheners we set down and ordered some OJ and got straight to it. This is what he had to say about their movement. (The above members couldn’t make it for the interview due to other commitments)

Angela Nimah: How you doing? J

Cardo: I’m great and you?

Angela Nimah: I’m well, thank you! - Tell us a bit more about Petrol or Milk. When did it start and who is all involved in this brand movement?

Cardo: Uhm, well, Petrol or Milk started in 2006, by the owner, his name is Siya Khumbela… Siyabonga Khumbela, and he started basically from the ground up and he had a vision for an urban brand that can inspire people to go out and chase their dreams. So basically that’s where it started. It’s based in Pretoria and right now we just trynna flood the streets a bit.

Angela Nimah: Who came up with the name and why this choice?

Cardo: The name… Siya started it; he came up with the name. uhm, Petrol or Milk basically means, well, the logo…

Angela Nimah: …aha

Cardo: – is a fusion between a bike and a cow right? And it kind of explains how you should choose what you want in life; the bike symbolises like movement, and drive, and the car symbolises like a chilled type of thing.

Angela Nimah: Ok! That’s interesting. And who designed the logo?

Cardo: Uhm, Siya designed the logo.

Angela Nimah: So he’s the man behind…

Cardo: …he’s the man behind the entire thing; he’s like the brain of the entire thing.

Angela Nimah: And what do you guys do; you and the other three guys?

Cardo: Well, I am the brand ambassador. There are three major brand ambassadors in Jo’burg; it’s me, AB Crazy –

Angela Nimah: Wow! Ok J

Cardo: – Yeah, and uhm, and the Super Stars from Pretoria. There’re more brand ambassadors around – Brian is like an advisor on telling us what to do when things go wrong or if we have some speed bumps. And we’re responsible for all the designs, keeping it trendy.

Angela Nimah: What inspired this brand initiative? [Ok, I think you told me what                inspired the brand initiative, like to broaden what, style…?] Was there a gap in the market that you spotted or did it come from a creative point of view?

Cardo: We looked at the market, like the clothing industry and how it is now and  we saw a lot of nice stuff but we were just like hacked at the fact that there wasn’t really any quality clothing out there, so that’s what we focused mainly on; the quality of our clothing. Not to say that other brands are…

Angela Nimah: No. Not at all; you’re a business.

Cardo: And also it did come from a creative point of view; it was a bit of both, a little creative and the gap. We knew that if we did it right we could own that gap and make it ours, and that was our starting point.

Angela Nimah: Your brand look has an urban international feel to it, how well would you say it stands out from competing apparel brands?

Cardo: [Laughs] I think it stands out pretty well. What really sets us apart from everybody else is the quality; we really pay a lot of attention to detail. We don’t slack at all when it comes to quality and that’s the reason behind the heavy prices.

Angela Nimah: You also strike me as the sort of group that’s likely to be found in Cape Town, chilled and laid-back – How would you describe the fashion here in Jo’burg in comparison to the one in Cape Town or even PTA?

Cardo: Uhm, let me start off by saying that the brand is actually country-wide…

Angela Nimah: Sheesh! J I’m getting chills…

Cardo: [Laughs] it’s all over the place. We’ve got ambassadors in every province…

Angela Nimah: Nice!

Cardo: …Yeah, but I think Jo’burg is a place that doesn’t really set trends; I don’t think Jo’burg sets trends, I think they adopt them. Jo’burg people are really easy to influence so they just adopt anything that’s dope! And in terms of Cape Town, that beach vibe, chilled out things, that’s where we like killed wit with the tank tops!

Angela Nimah: Besides the internet, pop culture, and the music that you listen to, [or the music that you make] what inspires you guys; what inspires the fabrics you use, the colours and textures?

Cardo: In actual fact we try to involve our customers a lot, you know. We try to take a lot of input from them, right now we just opened up our new Instagram account but just like in work, trynna get it all together, where we’re gonna get a lot of input from the people who purchase our clothing. And see how they feel.

And well, I shouldn’t actually be saying this but we’re in the works of working with other brands…

Angela Nimah: You don’t have to mention names…

Cardo: Yeah. Just fusing, and basically forming a conglomerate, you know. Just run this whole thing.

Angela Nimah: So you do agree that we should unite as brands as a collective to support each other and not be so competitive with each other?

Cardo: Definitely! Everything just works better like that; the more the merrier.

Angela Nimah: And I think it helps in not copying each other, do you know what I mean? If we were competing I think that’s when we’d be copying each other. Like ‘oh my gosh, Petrol or Milk is so dope maybe we can do something like that, lets compete with that’, you know.

Cardo: And I think it takes the originality out of the ideas. Yeah.

Da Les at a video shoot rocking Petrol or Milk

Angela Nimah: Most designers have a ritual they stick to when they create their collections. Do you guys have such a ritual; is there a creative process that takes place?

Cardo: [Laughs] Uhm, I wouldn’t call it a ritual, but we do have our own little steps that we take. We like to be aware if what trends are around. We try to fuse our own ideas and mix it up and try to come up with something new. Most of the time ideas just pop into our heads at random and then we meet have meetings and we put it all together.

Angela Nimah: What’s your motivation as a collective?

Cardo: It’s the people. We do it for the people, like how we started, how we first started selling our merchandise is that we were literally selling hand to hand so we really had a chance to connect with the people that were purchasing our stuff and their demand for our product keeps us going. And we still do that today.

Angela Nimah: How does each person’s personality assist in the brand’s growth, do you guys argue…?

Cardo: [Laughs] Yeah, actually. We have arguments every now and again. I’m the youngest so [laughs] I usually have to fight my way to get what I want, but it works out pretty well. I think the diversity makes for a nice combination. We always try to come to an end result that we’re all happy with before we move on to the next

Angela Nimah: You guys have managed to attract local celebrities such as AKA, what are the importance of having a vision and standards for any brand?

Cardo: In terms of starting a business, your visions and goals, you have to know what you’re doing before you get off the ground and you have to have the entire idea on paper and there should be no loop holes so that the speed bumps are a little lighter along the way.

Angela Nimah: Who else have you guys dressed or styled?

Cardo: Well, I’m dressed and styled by Petrol or Milk [Laughs] Da Les as well, we’ve dressed Zakwe from Durban, the Super Stars from Pretoria, AB Crazy… yeah and a few models a swell.

Angela Nimah: And the girls that you use, those are proper models?

Cardo: Yes, they are.

Angela Nimah: Wow, it shows J - I see that you keep it close to home in that you have dressed rappers or music artists. What your reason behind that?

Cardo: We try to keep it as urban as possible. That’s why we put up on videos and stuff like that.

Angela Nimah: Where can people get your merchandise?

Cardo: You can order our merchandise on twitter, @BambataSA follow them and just check out their 

profile. You’ll find their BBM pin there; their Whatsapp number and a Facebook link and you just place your order and get it delivered to you.

Angela Nimah: Why Bambata? [Laughs]

Cardo: Bambata is… [Laughs] an African word that means stomp!

Angela Nimah: Yeah I know, because they use it for hair, for when you ‘Bambata’ your hair… [Does action]

Cardo: Yeah, so we’re Bambataring the industry! [Laughs]

Angela Nimah: Oh! Wow. It’s creative though. I like it. Because I’m like ‘Petrol or Milk – “Bamabata” what are you Bambataring?’

There are lot of independent markets out there and many other businesses that are yet to get off the ground – What’s your message to those individuals when it comes to originality and the seriousness of business?

Cardo: My advice to anybody starting something up is that you have to be ready for the ups and downs, it’s not easy. Starting a business from the ground up is not easy, many people that have their own business know that it’s a lot of late nights early mornings…

Angela Nimah: …And you guys are in a group so there’s a lot of individuality within that…

Cardo: …And we’re all men! Testosterone!

Angela Nimah: [Laughs]

Cardo: You have to sacrifice a lot of your time. A lot of your time has to go out the window. We barely have time to chill anymore. Two of our members work, Brian is doing his thing, I’m out there doing my thing as well, and school.

Angela Nimah: I realise that with a lot of us who are independent and want to start business and what not. There’s pressures with finding a job, in order to get capital, in order to start a business, and then the binary opposition would be that ‘ok if I don’t have a job but I have more time to my art but also I don’t have enough capital to support my art’ – How does one balance those hurdles or tackle those hurdles?

Crado: That goes back to making sacrifices, you have to make sacrifices to get what you want, I sacrifice a bit of my studio time because I have meetings to go to or maybe a day or two of school because I may have a photo shoot. You just have to roll with the punches and keep going.

Angela Nimah: I that answer. - What are your goals for this year and where do you see your brand going in the next, let’s say 2 years?

Cardo: This year’s goal is to bum rush everybody! We’re literally gonna bambata everybody…

Angela Nimah: [Laughs]

Cardo: But just to get it out there, figuring out new marketing strategies, how to get it to people who don’t know about it yet. In the next two years we have a vision of being on top, doing everything and not just in terms of clothing but inspiring people through the clothing.


Angela Nimah: Ok! J Thank you. I think this was quite insightful, I really enjoyed it.

Follow Petrol or Milk @BambataSA on Twitter and Instagram

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