Gebayel Aseged is the founder, owner, and Director of ‘Gebayel for All’ fashion design’. Her background had little influence on her to join the fashion industry not to mention that it was also her childhood dream to be a fashion designer.
She is known for adding cultural and aesthetic values to her design in a way that reflects the diverse sociocultural aspects of society and echoes her real sense of patriotism. However, following her childhood dream did not come easily; but she had to go through a tough journey to be where she is now.
When it comes to cultural clothes, she holds strong beliefs and advises people to wear traditional attires without waiting for different occasions and ceremonies such as holidays, religious and marriage ceremonies, festivals, and the like important programs. That gave her the inspiration to focus on designs and use materials that are needed to make cultural clothes.
Talking about the reason how she joined the fashion industry, she stated that her mother used to make clothes at her home. Luckily, her grandmother raised her ten children by sewing clothes for them. She also had the opportunity to learn crafting in her primary school, Adama Town.
From remaking clothes for her dolls (toys) to practicing designs that she learned by simply watching her mother and grandmother, she fell in love with the fashion industry. That love led her to take different short-term design courses. However, her mother got a bit concerned as she thought she could not go further with her education. Thus, she had to wait until she joined higher education.
Once she joined the Mechanical Engineering field at Addis Ababa University, she had to dedicate more time to her class; but she began designing her clothes. When she was a fourth-year student, her brother understood her deep desire and allowed her to take short-term courses.
After accomplishing her degree, she started her business along with her friend she met with in design class; using the machine that her brother bought for her. They started making custom designs and learned a lot about the business world, as to her.
According to her, she has learned a lot from the journey they have gone through with her friend. Thus, they decided to borrow money and expand their business; and they did it. Unfortunately, they couldn’t move as they expected. They encountered major challenges due to lack of experience and the business area, among others.
They stayed in the business for about a year but things did not go as planned. Lack of experience and failure to handle business over friendship were the challenges their business faced at the moment. Though she was not against working in collaboration, she stressed that putting strong boundaries between friendship and business needs to be a prioritized issue for the business to flourish.
“When I got to the business right after my graduation, my family and people around me had warned me saying it could be more challenging.” However, she insisted that even if the business couldn’t go as planned she would rather learn from her mistakes. She was lucky enough that she had her family’s full support besides her strong commitment to her religious beliefs.”
Unfortunately, the loss of her father came at a time when she was preparing to begin her business from her house. She was heartbroken and had to go through a difficult time
At the time, African Mosaic announced training opportunities for designers. Due to her situation, she didn’t dare to be part of the training. As the only female child in her family, she had a deep connection with her father. It was very hard to accept his death; however, her mother insisted that she had to attend the training.
Designers who took African Mosaic training were expected to showcase their sketching and design work once they accomplished the training. After losing her father, she fought with depression for too long. Plus, witnessing individuals that committed suicide due to depression, made her situation even more difficult.
“The perception I had about mental health, like everyone else, was related to spiritual issues. It took me time to realize that it was like other illnesses that we could be cured if we got help and timely treatments accordingly. Life has its ups and downs. The main point is we have to stand up straight though it is not always full of a bed of roses.”
Nonetheless, instead of giving up following the loss of her father, she tried to manage it through dedicating her time to the job and other mind-captivating things.
After doing her research on depression, she came up with her new design entitled ‘Beautiful hearts behind depression’. This collection she showcased at African Mosaic enabled her to represent her country at Germany, Berlin Niyo Fashion Festival. She was highly admired for the way she portrayed depression through her collection.
She seized the opportunity to showcase her talents during her difficult time “One thing I learned about this job is that, as a youth, we spent too much time figuring out what is in our dream and the reality on the ground. However, when we start accepting the reality and the situation we are in, we can find the opportunities,” she said while explaining the importance of understanding situations.
After deciding to restart her own business, Gebeyal engaged in making clothes in the shop where her mother used to work. She gradually began promoting her designs using social media platforms which led her to present her works on various fashion shows.
According to her, ‘Gebayel for All’, the brand name for her products, is a simple but elegant design that gives charisma to the customer. She admires old fashions and she recalls the jewelries that are made of gold, bronze, and silver; her grandmother used to beautify herself at that time, as to her.
Taking that as an inspiration, she uses such traditional jewelries on the threads that are made by the weavers to add more magnificence to the clothes. She usually buys those jewelries from Axum and Lalibela areas and makes designs on the clothes the way she wants.
Given the fact that her design has a traditional unique touch that is produced with natural local materials, mainly, woven cotton used to make traditional clothes, she takes advantage of each occasion that she attends to introduce and promote her works. Oftentimes, people admire their uniqueness and order her to produce for them.
Currently, she has a vision of producing all types of attires that would minimize time and cost for customers at affordable prices. Opening branches and penetrating the international market are also among her priority goals.
She also advised youths particularly those who are running their own business to be patient as seeing a business flourishing and growing could be time-consuming and needs dedication. More importantly, she underlined that they need to compete with no other than themselves.
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 8 AUGUST 2024
