The latest must have fashion item is a Lavagirl design outfit or an accessory from Maku Gifts.
For the convenience of customers in Port Moresby, and just in time for the festive season too; designer behind the labels – Annette Sete and her team, have just recently opened their Port Moresby shop at the Pacific Palms’ Steamships complex, Ahuia Street, Gordons.
From a mixed parentage of East New Britain and East Sepik Province, Entrepreneur and Fashion Designer, Annette Sete has come a long way in her fabric design pieces and jewelry line collection.
“A lot of travelling was involved overseas and domestically. The struggle to find little gifts items that were truly Papua New Guinean was difficult.”
“The initial plan was to use what available resources we had to create something that is not found in the market.”
“And in mid-2014, one of the big gaps in the market was finding an appropriate fabric with local prints that truly tell a story.”
Ms Sete added that quite a lot of misinterpretation of prints created by Chinese had Highlands’ men in a head-dress sitting in a canoe but that did not make sense and did not have a story behind it.
That was when the birth of the idea Annette used to print local authentic designs on fabrics that were very particular to the people and that Papua New Guineans could identify happened.
She also got creative by doing earrings and home decorative pieces like wind chimes and coasters.
“Craft markets only concentrate on bigger items like bilums, baskets, carvings but what I was looking for was something small that I could pack into my laptop bag or bilum or my hand bag and take with me.”
In mid-2014, Facebook was used for a lot of Ms Sete’s marketing and advertising.
At that time of advertising on social media, there were not a lot of people making and selling things.
“It wasn’t the ones that use smartphones or things like that. They were our village mothers, our settlement mothers and our housewives. They were the ones selling at the craft market.”
She further stated, “I’d like to think and say that we influenced a little bit of what the market is doing right now because when we posted about making earrings and the dresses, people were loving the idea.”
“Women created clothes and sold along the roads but to find a particular print Papua New Guineans could relate to, was what we were able to bring to the market.”
She also added, for that, she had to find the problem in the market and find a solution for that and using her experience in Media and Marketing aided with the growth.
“We only created one item at first and would have it advertised and based on the number of sales for that item on that day, we would create the product. And in a way it grew our business and customers.”
Although there are a lot of designs that look like Lavagirls, it is easier to differentiate as clarified by Annette herself.
“We focus only on one design on a particular fabric and do not mix or squeeze a lot of designs onto the fabric.”
That is the aspect of Lavagirl that sets it apart from others and what makes that; along with Maku Gifts, and Sete’s Men’s Fashion Wear, Xplosion so appealing to so many people.
