In a Soccer Laduma Fan Park Exclusive, Kasi Flavour10 creator Kabelo Kungwane spoke to us about his trip to Côte d'Ivoire for the 2023 AFCON.
Check it out!
What's the story?
Kasi Flavour10 creative director and founder Kabelo Kungwane explored Côte d'Ivoire during the recent Africa Cup of Nations tournament, where he took on some creative endeavors and followed Bafana Bafana during the exciting knockout-stage matches.
Kungwane's Kasi Flavour10 brand takes inspiration from Mzansi's football culture and history and the football-mad designer has been appreciating football cultures from outside our borders.
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Let's take a closer look at what Kungwane had to say about his trip, linking up with Djibril Cisse and new work for Kasi Flavour10...
Kabelo Kungwane on AFCON Côte d'Ivoire
During the latter stages of the memorable goal-fest that was the 2023 Africa Cup on Nations, Kasi Flavour10's Kabelo Kungwane made the trip to the football-mad West African nation of Ivory Coast.
Kungwane described his AFCON experience as "perfect" and the stadiums as "vibrant", and that the tournament was a beautiful exhibition of the diverse African cultures, which was well celebrated by the teams on show.
The trip to the Ivory Coast afforded Kungwane with the opportunity of linking up with ex-Liverpool and Marseille baller, Djibril Cisse, who has Ivorian heritage.
The stylish retired striker was captured wearing an orange Yaya Toure hybrid football jersey/shirt and a new pair of Kasi Flavour10's cowrie appliqué collab trackpants.
The combo worn by Cisse resembles the designs done by Kungwane for KasiFlavour 10's "Kalakuta FC" collection, inspired by the late Afrobeats icon Fela Kuti and mainly Nigeria football culture, design and art.
Kungwane also mentioned on IG that he chatted to the footballer-cum-DJ about Ivorian roots, football culture, self expression and African football among other things.
"It was so crazy man, to link up with Djibril Cisse in Ivory Coast because we went out to a party and coincidently, he was DJing at the party. He liked the Ghana jersey that I've made and we connected from there. He wanted to buy the jersey and I told him that I made it and since then, he was interested in me and my brand and to shoot something while he was there.
"He's someone who is very involved in the creative scene because when he was a player, he was also expressing himself through his hairstyles etc. We just clicked, we are so like minded, so it was really dope to link with him because he's someone we look up to in terms of footballers who express themselves and that's what we stand for as Kasi Flavour," added Kungwane on his meeting with Cisse.
AFCON proved to be fruitful business trip for Kungwane, who mentioned that they made items inspired by the continental showpiece, which was sold almost as quickly as it was made in the Ivory Coast.
Scroll through the gallery to view snaps shared by Kungwane taken during AFCON:
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Abidjan ???? pic.twitter.com/wIBdUP0OYh
— Kabelo Kungwane (@KabeloKungwan) February 20, 2024
Bafana Bafana, I need to be happy tonight ??, abeg ?? pic.twitter.com/u38wM90tUi
— Kabelo Kungwane (@KabeloKungwan) February 10, 2024
In March, Kungwane and Kasi Flavour10 will host a pop-up event to showcase their journey at AFCON as well as the vibrant items they've designed and that's likely to include the special yellow Ghana jersey that was wanted by Cisse.
On the pitch, the Johannesburg-based creative caught a chunk of the action from the AFCON knockout stages, and Kungwane went on to mention two matches that stood out to him:
"There are two games that I really enjoyed watching, the first one was the Nigeria and Angola match. It was the first day in the country and seeing, you know the Nigerian band? I grew up hearing that band on TV, playing with the saxophones and trumpets, that to me was very surreal to experience at the stadium.
"Also seeing the crazy outfits, it made me think that as Africans, we are almost similar in terms of we pride ourselves in our teams and Nigeria's fans were similar to South Africa's fans. They wear their regalia, they make their own clothes, which is really amazing. Most African fans do that, from Ghana to Senegal," said Kungwane.
"Another match was South Africa and Cape Verde. We drove six hours from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro to watch that game and wow, what a treat, man. We saw Ronwen saving four penalties to take us through to the semi's, it was really special," he added.
Last night was crazy at the stadium!!fans celebrated the win will midnight, it was fun ???????? pic.twitter.com/86wYvl81qG
— Kabelo Kungwane (@KabeloKungwan) February 8, 2024
Abidjan ????
— Kabelo Kungwane (@KabeloKungwan) February 6, 2024
Football is life here, the people love their national team. Everywhere you go someone is wearing Ivorian colours. So patriotic and it's beautiful to see. pic.twitter.com/JTB6m0pjWj
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