It's the end of the road for popular streetwear brand Drip Footwear as the company has been told to be liquidated by the High Court in Johannesburg in September.
The shoe brand was taken to court by Wideopen Platform, a company that specialises in large-impact advertising for unpaid services.
Kim Warren from KWA Attorneys represented Wideopen in the lawsuit and said Wideopen was owed R20 million for advertising services.
Drip Footwear in the last week has had to let go of a number of its workers from its 14 stores across the country.
A few workers spoke to the Citizen and said that there was no real communication around the dismissals.
The workers did not want to be identified and said that the founder, Lekau Sehoana failed to inform them about what was happening.
“He did not tell us what was actually happening. It was sudden when last Wednesday we saw sheriffs we were told the store is being closed and staff should pack and leave,” a manager explained.
“He had known for months about the (application to liquidate) and we were either getting short-paid or paid late,” the manager said.
V&A Waterfront kicks Drip out
Last month, V&A Waterfront Holdings said that Drip Footwear and Sehoana were asked to vacate their store in the luxury shopping mall.
The footwear brand was asked to leave due to failing to pay its rent for several months. The V&A has filed papers in the Johannesburg High Court to try and get the R1.1 million that is owed to them in back rent, according to Sunday World.
About Drip Footwear and Sehoana
According to the footwear website, the brand was formed back in 2003.
Sehoana said that he grew up with very little in the informal settlement of Ivory Park in Johannesburg.
He said that he did not have any shoes to wear and was inspired to create his footwear from an old discarded sneaker. He fixed and redesigned the shoe with denim and polyurethane.
This prototype became a local hit in the settlement and led him to make an entry into the shoe-making business.
“A few years later, Drip was born and the rest is history. The concept behind the name and branding of this footwear brand comes from the modern-day usage of words,” according to Drip Footwear’s website.
“Drip in a literal sense means drops of liquid. However, in urban street culture, it means looking nice, having a high fashion sense, Ukotini, style or being highly fashionable.”
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