Who We Are

What we do

Fashion Event Management & Fashion Design

  • London Fashion Week scheduled showcase and trade show exhibition.
  • Fashion design and fashion garment construction.
  • Fashion styling for magazine editorial and featured shoots.
  • Clothing range management.
  • Catalogues and lookbook stills photography.
  • Fashion buying and personal styling & lifestyle consulting.

Experience and Skills

  • Establishment of a Collective of rotating membership of aspiring designers.
  • Business planning liaison with funding bodies and the British Fashion Council.
  • Corporate and private branded event budget, logistical, team and guest management.
  • Event planning and coordination expertise, including emcee presenting, entertainment and catering.
  • Media communications and PR liaison, social media marketing.
  • Art Direction.

How it all started...

Head Designer Sibu Dladla received his certification from the Cape Town Haute Couture School of Fashion Design in garment construction, design and fashion business prior to founding the Jaded Life (JL) brand and label in 2006, having been inspired by Nelson Mandela's encouragement for South Africans to set up companies (see Inspiration in NEWS). The naming of the company was an ironic response to an affected world-weariness by supposed fashionistas looking for elusive inspiration. JL began as a fashion design company with the well-received first range as showcased at the Winter Audi South Africa Fashion Week resulting in JL supplying a selection of garments to high-end boutiques whilst also working on a bespoke level with private clients as the fashion label Jaded Life was officially launched. The strong media response gave the company a more robust brand presence attracting the venue management company Opium Group, an international lifestyle restuarants-to-clubs company, with which JL promoted events jointly at their Cape Quarter Opium club, hosting weekly fashion shows, concerts and various lifestyle events. The signature customised fitted menswear brocade jacket range was particularly praised at this juncture of an increasing corporate profile necessitating an expanded production facility to satisfy demand, outsourcing some garment construction. In terms of securing expansion finance Jaded Life secured a substantial grant having won the government / S.A.B. Miller sponsored Kick Start Young Business awards programme in 2010; the capital injection securing JL's immediate goal of resourcing its own machinery and workshop. Having established a successful manufacturing base with premises in Cape Town, an ambitious overseas presence was decided upon with the relocation of Jaded Life design to London in 2011 from when the company has been based and hosted various Fashion-Bound events (see NEWS), being 'open for business' in terms of fashion since 2013 in-store and commencing online retail from 2014 via this website and as of 2022, shopifysibudladla.comIn facilitating our transition to manufacturing and retail in London, we would want to acknowledge the start-up and consolidation funding support and mentorship afforded by the (East) London Small Business Centre since 2012 (now the Nwes Group) as managers of the European Regional Development Fund, especially the unfailingly positive Jim Price, now sadlly passed on. As of 2016, the UK Department for International Trade (formerly the UK Dept. of Trade & Investment) has provided an ad hoc business cluster initiative grant in support of exhibiting at export-led trade fairs in London and Paris while Tower Hamlets Council has also provided various SME support grants such as the post-pandemic lockdown 2022 Pivot Project to support our manufacturing as we are a circular, inclusive social enterprise based on and with studio space at Craft Central, The Forge E14 on the Isle of Dogs.