Prima Clothing Designer Wins Mr Price Internship in Botswana
For a designer, winning an internship with one of Africa’s biggest fashion retailers can open doors that might otherwise take years to reach. For the creative mind behind Prima Clothing,Prince Mashamba, the opportunity came in Botswana, where his children’s collection earned him the Mr Price Internship at Fashion Without Borders Africa.
The achievement was significant not only for the designer but also for the Vaal University of Technology, where he is studying, and the group he represented at the event.
Mr Price is a major name in African retail fashion, and the designer sees the internship as an opportunity to understand what happens beyond creating garments.
“The win meant a lot to me, the institution (Vaal University of Technology) and my group because Mr Price is one of the biggest groups in fashion. They are always ahead in fashion, which is more of what I want to learn from them and understand more about the industry,” he said.
His excitement is rooted in the knowledge that designing clothes is only one part of building a successful fashion business. Understanding how garments are produced, marketed and sold is equally important.
Through the internship, he hopes to gain practical experience in merchandising, clothing production, business expansion and store operations. These are skills he believes form the foundation of the clothing industry and can help him grow Prima Clothing beyond its current reach.
However, his appearance at Fashion Without Borders Africa was not only about securing an opportunity with a major retailer. It was also about presenting a collection with a message for young wearers.
The children’s collection was designed around comfort, happiness and the importance of celebrating personal growth. For the designer, childhood should not be defined entirely by the pressure to achieve or meet expectations. Children also deserve moments to appreciate themselves and enjoy the journey of growing up.
“The kids should feel at ease, be happy and take a moment to celebrate themselves as much as they are working so hard to make it,” he said. “There has to be that one day when you have to appreciate yourself and reflect on the journey you have been on as you grow up.”
That thinking sits at the heart of Prima Clothing, where the aim is to create garments that children can feel comfortable wearing while expressing their individuality.
His experience in Botswana also gave him an opportunity to learn from designers working across different parts of the continent. Sharing a platform with other creatives allowed him to see how their backgrounds, experiences and inspirations influence their work.
One of his strongest impressions was the level of support the fashion industry received in the host country.
“What I learned about Botswana is that people support fashion like it’s a national sport,” he said, pointing to the involvement of various departments and the packed venue as signs of the event’s reach.
For an emerging designer, such an environment offered a reminder that fashion can thrive when creatives receive support from institutions and audiences alike.
Beyond the runway, sustainability remains an important part of Prima Clothing’s approach to children’s wear. Children grow quickly, and parents often have to replace clothes before the garments have reached the end of their useful life.
The brand is exploring practical ways to address this challenge through adjustable waistbands, comfortable fabrics that are gentle on children’s skin and manufacturing practices designed to reduce waste.
Its approach also favours garments that can remain wearable beyond a single season, rather than pieces that quickly fall out of fashion.
The challenge is to balance the needs of growing children with the realities faced by parents, while ensuring that clothing remains comfortable, useful and appealing.
Winning the Mr Price Internship gives the designer a chance to study these aspects of the business more closely. It could also help him understand how to translate his creative ideas into a brand capable of reaching a wider market.
His ambitions extend well beyond the internship. He hopes to be recognised as South Africa’s Designer of the Year and Best Clothing Brand, while taking his work to major fashion platforms, including South African Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week and London Fashion Week.
These are significant goals for a designer still building his name, but his Botswana achievement has given him another opportunity to learn, develop his craft and strengthen his understanding of the industry.
For Prima Clothing, the next chapter will be about turning that experience into progress. The internship offers access to knowledge that could shape the brand’s future, while its children’s collection reflects the designer’s belief that fashion should make people feel comfortable, confident and appreciated.
The Botswana win may be one milestone in a much longer journey, but it has brought the designer closer to the industry he wants to understand and the brand he hopes to build.
