About Us
Wear / We’re Lembe
Lembe is a Pietermaritzburg based brand rooted in quiet certainty. Born of Ndlovu,
watered by Dlamini, the brand holds the weight of being the eldest and the carrier of
the founder’s name Lembe Mkhonto Shaka.
Founded initially out of survival in 2023, Lembe began as a means for the founder to
build something for himself with his own hands. As the download continues to reveal
itself, the brand now finds itself in dialogue with themes of inheritance, collective
honour and becoming.
Our signature hawk-back design – a raised seam that traces the centre of the back
occasionally flaring at the shoulders – is an aesthetic gesture of homage. The spine,
being the body’s axis, is the path through which energetic memory travels. At Lembe,
we wear our ancestors here – Inqola Yomlando (n.) – the back of history.
Lembe is not here to decorate Blackness with slogans. It is here to clothe it in heritage.
The brand offers itself broadly to Nguni tribes and more specifically to Zulu people – a
fashion brand to call their own. Born of the soil, like MaXhosa for the Xhosa nation,
Lembe is building a house for those who have gone too long without one, be it in
fashion, in image or definition.
To wear Lembe is a homecoming. Walk with us as we stitch together our future.
Language of the Seam
A living glossary
iLembe (n.)
isiZulu: iLembe eleqa amanye amaLembe ngokukhalipha — The axe that surpasses
other axes in sharpness.
/lémbe/
A Zulu praise name famously associated with Shaka — the warrior king who overcame
and outwitted even the fiercest of opponents. As the first name of our founder, Lembe serves to cut through what came before and shape what’s next.
Mkhonto (n.)
isiZulu: spear
/mkʰɔːntɔ/
A name of precision, protection and forward movement. In our world it represents
design as sharp and directed intention.
Shaka (n.)
/ʃáːka/
The name of the warrior king. A disruptor and visionary. To wear the name is to carry
the legacy of bold innovation and Zulu excellence.
Ndlovu (n.)
isiZulu: elephant
/ndlɔːvu/
The fashion elephant. A surname that grounds the brand in all that the elephant
represents – silent force, memory and leadership.
Dlamini (n.)
A royal Nguni surname most traditionally held by the lineage of the Swati people.
/dɬaːmíːni/
Carried by the founder’s mother – a woman of great stature and image – the hands
that seeded this brand. Dlamini represents matriarchal memory and creative legacy.
Ngobuqiniso (ph.)
/ŋɔɓuǃínísɔ/
Our sign-off directly translates to “with truth.” A vow and the spirit in which we conduct
internal affairs.
Ngobuqiniso,
LEMBE