FASHION DESIGNER Sandrine Gisa last week made history after she was appointed the Visual Merchandising Group (VMG) Manager at Hennes & Mauritz, a Swedish multinational clothing company headquartered in Stockholm that focuses on fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers, and children.

As of November 2019, H&M operates in 74 countries with over 5,000 stores under the various company brands, with 126,000 full-time equivalent positions.

The Muhanga born designer, who now lives in Gävleborg, a city located in the Southern of Sweden, three hours away from capital city Stockholm, is the youngest to hold such a position at just 29, something which people said has become a huge deal because the last young person to manage the global department had done it at 42.

In an interview with The New Times, Gisa talks becoming the first Rwandan to work for the global fashion brand and what it means to her and the Rwandan fashion industry in general.

Excerpts:

What powers do you hold under your new appointment at H&M?

I manage the visual merchandises department (MD). H&M has so many departments and every design that it has ever made has to pass through visual design before it becomes something people buy. It has to be approved by the visual department design before it goes into process.   

The fact that H&M is a global company with headquarters here in Stockholm means that all decisions taken have to be put into place at all H&M stores which are over 5,000 worldwide.

When I got the post, it scared me somehow when I realised that the decision that our team will make will be global.

What does your appointment at such a big fashion brand like H&M mean to you as a designer and Rwanda’s fashion industry?

When I got appointed in December, I just went home and said to my mother and my brothers. I just thought the post was not a big deal until I started to see people at the company so excited, saying that there were some people who worked for the company for over 35 years but never succeeded to take over the post.

I started to take things seriously when one of my bosses told me ‘did you know that you are the first and youngest woman to hold this position, especially from Africa?  Your country should be proud of you!’

I have since come to realise why people see it as something huge for me and Rwanda’s fashion industry at large.

Honestly, I am a person who believes in actions rather than just words. I like to do things quietly and let actions speak for me because I have people who always doubted me.

So, the position really means so much to me personally or to my country.

How has your journey in fashion been like until H&M appointed you?

My mother is a tailor, I grew up seeing her do that for a living. She still helps me in my journey.  I remember I made all the collections that I showcased at Kigali International Fashion Week in 2019.

So, I grew up with a dream and passion to one day become a designer to the extent that I tore the clothes she would buy for me to give them my favorite designs. We would argue on that but I insisted, then she had no choice but to teach me how it’s done.

With the passion, I now hold a masters’ degree in fashion business and happened to work with H&M during my internship as a tailor. We since became familiar. It’s very hard to work in a big company. With passion, I started to work for them as a salesperson in their store and, after finishing my studies, I joined their design team.

I did not reach this far because I am from a rich family but just straight hustle is all I used to tell my dad and he never doubts me.  I'm not the best in the entire company but God made me the chosen one.

Do your new responsibilities mean you are quitting your career as a fashion designer?

Yes, I have no choice but to quit because I am supposed to work closely with them.

However, my goal is to one day own such a big company to develop and help my country because, as a designer, I personally look at how things are done and later see how we transfer the skills because we have so much history that we could put in design that can inspire people globally.

How do you think this milestone can inspire Rwanda’s fashion industry and African industry at large?

I think this can inspire Rwanda's fashion and African fashion industry because we have so much in us that people see but we fail to recognize ourselves.

Because in everything we do, we do it as an African native that when someone sees it, they get inspired and that's sad that other people get to profit from our ideas. I would love to see the same thing happening not only in my country but Africa at large. I would love to see that happens in Africa too, especially in my home country, because we have so much to offer than people just thinking of Genocide when our name always come up.

Which major fashion events have you attended during your journey as a designer?

I represented Sweden at Kigali International Fashion Week in 2019 in Kigali and then 2020 in Tokyo.

Other events that I showcased my collections include Scandinavia Fashion Week in the Scandinavia countries.

But for now, for the sake of my new job, I can’t keep doing this because I am not allowed any more to showcase at other fashion events because to avoid disputes with the employers that I could be copying their designs.

Why do you think visual design is important to becoming a successful designer? 

Visual merchandising design goes with time. People used to do visual designs and do presentations on papers but they would easily lose them or the papers would become old. But, in this digital era, you can do your visual designs on your laptop and protect them from those who want to copy them.