{"id":730097,"date":"2023-11-10T06:51:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T04:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=730097"},"modified":"2023-11-10T07:12:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T05:12:59","slug":"meet-the-mind-behind-cape-towns-booming-slow-fashion-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/730097\/meet-the-mind-behind-cape-towns-booming-slow-fashion-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the mind behind Cape Town\u2019s booming slow fashion brand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When South African entrepreneur Adrian Heneke founded fashion boutique <a href=\"https:\/\/billynow.com\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=November+2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>BillyNOW<\/strong><\/a>, it was all about bringing back the quality fashion of the 60&#8217;s and 70&#8217;s that he grew up around \u2013 intentionally crafted from button and thread to fabric and fit.<\/p>\n<p>With over 28 years in the clothing business behind him, Heneke is a recognisable figure in the South African fashion world.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/za\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=November+2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Click here to learn how Xero can assist you to save time and boost business success.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Uniquely South African fashion<\/h3>\n<p>Excited by the creative emergence of fashion and design, Heneke believes that South Africa has its own, unique style.<\/p>\n<p>BillyNOW\u2019s business philosophy has always been centred on \u2018the new vintage\u2019: slow fashion that focuses on style, quality and detail, where every part of the process has been touched by hand.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bringing Slow Fashion to South Africa | Xero\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xpr7ac-55Do\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe accounting part of business is not where my strength lies but I\u2019m acutely aware that it is an important part of business that helps turn my passion into profit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We reached a stage where the business boomed within about six to eight months, we were extremely busy and just could not keep up. I knew we needed to invest in technology to help us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Training myself on Xero has streamlined a lot of the accounting and financial management and freed me up to run the business,\u201d says Heneke.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Ease of use and peace of mind<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cThe clothing industry is like a blockbuster action movie, there are lots of crazy moving parts to navigate. With Xero, my team and I can maximise our productivity, it just makes things easier.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can invoice on the go, check my cash flow and see a snapshot of where we are as a business. It means I have plenty of time to focus my energy on the business of creating beautiful clothing,\u201d adds Heneke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also have great accounting partners that we work with who understand the challenges of working with creatives. Using Xero has improved our communication and understanding of each other, and everything is much more streamlined at month end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BillyNOW-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-730099 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BillyNOW-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BillyNOW-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BillyNOW-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/BillyNOW-2-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Embracing technology<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/content\/dam\/xero\/pdfs\/state-of-south-african-small-business-report-2023.pdf?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=November+2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Xero\u2019s research<\/strong><\/a> shows that like Heneke, many South African small business owners feel that prioritising technology has helped to grow their businesses, with 39% reporting technology has made a significant positive impact on their business profits.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, 56% of small business owners have increased their investment in tech over the last 12 months, and 40% are planning to build on their investment in the coming year.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not easy to be a small business in South Africa right now, but the passion and tenacity of entrepreneurs like Adrian Heneke is driving optimism and inspiring other businesses.<\/p>\n<p>His advice for other small businesses is: \u201cKeep on pushing, it\u2019s going to get hard at times, but remember if you weren\u2019t doing this you\u2019d be working on someone else\u2019s dream so don\u2019t give up, enjoy the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This article is part of Xero\u2019s series celebrating the self-made stories of small business owners in South Africa and offering advice for those looking to grow their business.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xero.com\/za\/small-businesses\/customers\/?utm_source=BusinessTech&amp;utm_medium=Article&amp;utm_term=November+2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>To read more stories like this, visit Xero\u2019s website.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Cape Town\u2019s BillyNOW leverages technology to save time and boost business success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":730337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[15424],"class_list":["post-730097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-xero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730097"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":730327,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730097\/revisions\/730327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}