According to its founder and current Creative Director, Sandra Tebogo Kenanao, “Xandye is another name for ‘luxury’. We don’t compromise when it comes to quality. We design our products from scratch, taking time on detail and simple – yet elegant – aesthetics. We select the material and hardware to be used on our products, and work closely with our manufacturer to ensure the best outcome [on the products]. It is worth noting that all our products are design locally and manufactured overseas.”
Following the brand’s launch in October of 2020, its maiden product – the Seriti handbag – hit the market at a retail price of BWP 1, 599. For a pure leather, sleek black range – the price was very much justified. The handbag flew off the shelves, with 25 bags sold within the first month of its release.
“I was inspired by the response the bag got, more so that very minimal advertising was done on our end. Most of the marketing we got was organic, through referrals our customers made. It was very encouraging and I figured it was time to expand on the brand’s range,” commented Kenanao.
Expansion came in the form of the Lefika cardholder, which was released June of 2021. The cardholder caters more for the gentlemen, currently retailing for BWP499. It has been well-received as well. Kenanao remarked that Lefika is for, “the modern man, who is constantly on the move but needs all his business accessories in one place. It provides just that for banks cards, business cards and anything else that one might need to easily reach. Its wide range of colors, combined with its reasonable size, allows for an easy blend with whatever the Lefika gentleman might be wearing on any given day.
To offer maximum exclusivity on their range of products, Xandye does not restock on soldout products – which are usually limited to a certain release number. This is done to give customers a sense of pride over their ownership of the products. Unlike most locally made leather products which follow the traditional brown leather ‘old style/vintage’ look, Xandye prides itself with the luxurious, modern leather finish currently on offer.
Xandye has ambitions to one day own a manufacturing plant here at home and employ local magnitudes. Kenanao expresses that, in order to achieve this, they will in future embark on an investor-drive to source funds. With all this, and many other plans on the books, Kenanao has only one focus: Get Xandye out there.
“Anything else, I believe, will follow with time. Perfection takes time, and as per Xandye’s and my own personal mission – rushing anything leads to a lot of compromise.”
Sandra Tebogo Kenanao was born 1987 in Serowe, Botswana. She would later relocate to Gaborone in 1994, where she has been living since. She developed her current drive for business as early as high school, where she had small entrepreneurial ventures. The love for fashion had always been in her as well. From sewing dresses from scratch, and modifying clothes she already owned, her inspiration came from existing fashion brands like Coco Chanel, Michael Kors, Dior – among others. She had always known that someday she would own her own fashion house, more so after realizing that existing brands she could afford locally were usually not durable.
Kenanao holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, and an Associate Degree in Retail Management — and currently juggles her time between Xandye and being a small stocks farmer.
