iFashion

In my previous blog post, (read here if you missed it), I gave you a small teaser of what Porsche Design is about. Today’s blog post will hopefully allow you to live the Porsche Design Experience, just like I did last week.

The bloggers’ cocktail party kicked off with an introduction to Michael Griffin. He is the man who brought Porsche Design to South Africa. Michael is one of those people who just seem larger than life. He’s only 33, and he has run some huge businesses, including SA’s flagship Nokia Care Centre and the Motorola Intelligence Centre, which is the largest distributor and repair facility in Africa. One could say he is lucky, but I don’t think it’s luck. It’s clear to me that he has the insight and passion to make things happen. It’s tough to be an entrepreneur and put money at risk. Getting a stable salary and working for someone is obviously the safer option, but that limits where you can go.

Michael fell in love with a pair of Porsche Design Adidas shoes and when he realised that he had to go overseas to get these, he decided to meet with the head office in Germany and bring the brand to South Africa. When the owner/manager of a store is passionate about their product, it shows. He is really “hands on” and gets involved with all aspects of the store management, from customer service to shop fittings.

Porsche Design is all about functionality and luxury. The products are designed in Europe, and they’ve designed most things you can think of- yachts, aeroplane interiors, watches, sunglasses, pens, clothes… I could go on forever!

They partner with the best people in the industry for all these products. This ensures that you’re getting the best quality possible.

The layout of the store is hip and trendy while remaining upmarket. It is exactly the same in all 132 stores worldwide! Even their display window gets sent to them from Germany and changes every 2 months.

The first thing I noticed was the posters of the models. I don’t think I’ve seen sexier shots in a store. I was drooling over this guy!

I had to tear my eyes away from the models because Michael was about to start his tour of the store. The tour started off with the sunglasses. These are all uber stylish and are reasonably priced as well, with an average price of R2500. I’ve seen loads of hype recently about Ray Ban’s fold up aviators, but did you know that Porsche Design made the first fold up sunglasses in 1980. They also launched the first sunglasses with interchangeable lenses in 1978.

From there, it was onto the fashion. Now personally, I’m just not in the space where I can spend R30,000 on a jacket. If I had millions, maybe I would, ‘cos their clothing is pretty damn amazing. Firstly, most of it is limited edition. For instance, they’ll make 200 of a certain item and yours will have a label imprinted saying that it is number 34 of 200 in the world.

Also, the fabric is out of this world. Think cashmere and gorgeous, soft leather.

Lastly, all the clothing (like all Porsche Design products) is really functional. It doesn’t just look pretty, it’s designed to be the best it can be. Check out the tshirt with a little fabric “hook” for your sunglasses! Letting them drag down your collar is so uncool J

I love that a lot of thought has gone into each item of clothing. Both the men’s and ladies ranges included timeless pieces, real investment items that won’t go out of style.

There’s also a Porsche Design Adidas Sports range. These guys have literally thought of everything. They have sailing shoes with an actual drain in the sole so that your shoes don’t get filled with water. They also do tennis shoes that have extra support in the areas where players tend to drag their feet.

Then, it was onto the R22,000 blackberry. It’s housed in a glass case and is oh-so-sexy. They even have a Porsche Design hard drive!


My 2^nd favourite product line were the pens. They were so cool. You literally just shake the pen and the cartridge (basically the nib of the pen) pops out . shake it again and it pops back in. The pens are also beautifully designed and priced lower than Mont Blanc. These would make an amazing gift.


Last but not least, it was onto the most valuable section of the store: the watches. Can you believe they have a watch that costs R1.2m! As I’d come to expect, the watches were all also beautifully designed and the cheapest one is priced at around the R20k mark. They’re housed in a glass case. At the push of a button, the glass door slides open and the pedestal that the watch is on lifts up into the air. So cool!

The briefcases are so sexy. They also do leather ipad holders and wallets. You can get an ipad holder for around R1300, which I think is not too bad.

And that was the end of the tour. The brand epitomizes luxury and convenience. I’m totally sold!

Even though I won’t be able to afford the more expensive items, I can definitely pick up a wallet and maybe a pen for myself, which I hope to be doing soon!

Look out for my next post, which will be my Porsche Design “lookbook”- so me trying on some of the stunning clothes!

X

H