By Katlego Sekhu
959 Breakfast’s Dineo Ranaka recently dropped her new clothing line ANXY.
Speaking about the meaning behind ANXY, Dineo says that it’s “derived from anxiety” which has been a “big struggle” of hers.
“I conceptualized ANXY throughout my entire divorce process. My divorce changed me and I didn’t realise it, I thought I was resilient until I was in the furnace of divorce and didn’t realise how ugly that process is. I even lost versions of myself and I saw myself acting largely out of character in certain spaces.”
Beholding her daughter carrying the same blanket for over ten years to “soothe herself” inspired Dineo to look for her own soother.
“She told me it makes her feel better and it is the most comfortable thing she has in all her possessions. ‘It makes me feel better and okay.’ I looked at myself and said ‘you must take wisdom from your daughter.’ You also need a soother,” shares Dineo.
Seeing that she (Dineo) loves tracksuits, sneakers and socks. She decided to take out all her “frustration and pain” and invest it in “soothers” for herself.
“I started sampling socks, shoes and I realised that I actually love dressing people. I then decided that I am going to create these soothers for anyone else who has the same struggles as me. I wear my reminders, so the soothers that I have created; I short coded the word anxiety to make it cool to me. Because right now we talk about anxiety as the enemy,” said 959 Breakfast’s co-host.
More than just a cool name
ANXY is more than just another catchy brand name. There’s deep meaning encoded in its stylization.
“If you look at the X in ANXY, it’s a reverse ‘Y’ that’s why I made it stand out. It’s got a little full stop to create an X on the stop. So it is saying to yourself, ‘you must stop, relax breathe’. It’s okay, whatever it is that you are feeling it’s okay”, elucidate Dineo.
“Our slogan is ‘Find Your Feet’.’ I found that in life as human being we constantly have to rediscover ourself, to ourselves and resell ourselves to constantly believe in ourselves through life’s challenges. You go through a divorce, you have loss of self and you have to sell yourself to yourself again. You have to re-pitch yourself to yourself.”
When she is wearing ANXY, Dineo is reminded that in life, “everyone’s journey is unique to them and that’s okay.” She adds. “Lets normalize finding our feet, we can’t be perfect all the time.”
ANXY is a family brand and caters to all ages, shapes and sizes. You can make order on the ANXY online store and they deliver nationwide.
“I’m hands on in the business right now and I really want to create an iconic South African brand that speaks to the wellness of human beings. Our clothes are very comfortable. The shoes ‘Defenders’ are very comfortable – you need a healthy mechanism against the harsh realities of life. The first area of my body I like to defend first are my feet,” said Dineo Ranaka.
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