“From Plastic Bags To Designer Shoes” Meet Maria McCloy

THERE is a hive of activity at Maria McCloy’s stand at the Market on Main in Maboneng on a Sunday morning as the publicist, TV producer, journalist, entrepreneur and designer juggles several roles.

There’s a man who wants her to pose for a photograph with him and a teenaged customer who can’t seem to decide which pair of shoes to buy.

McCloy designs earrings, necklaces, bracelets and shoes made from Chinese-manufactured plastic bags that many South Africans have dubbed Shangaan bags.

They are very popular among long-distance travellers, especially cross-border shoppers who have come to SA from as far afield as Ghana. They are durable enough to survive long journeys tied to the roofs of buses and taxis and very cheap — peddled by hawkers for as little as R20.

McCloy and her team of designers have turned these cheap bags into sophisticated and desirable items that even the rich and the middle classes are buying.

Marketing them mainly at Johannesburg’s burgeoning markets, she also sells them online using social media, attracting foreign buyers.

No one can explain how a bag — made in China, dubbed of Shangaan origin in SA and available in multiple African prints — have all of these identities and have lodged so firmly in the psyche of millions of Africans.

McCloy thinks it is called a Shangaan bag in reference to a minority ethnic group that is often looked down upon by black South Africans.

“By referring to this cheap plastic bag as a Shangaan’s bag, it fits into the stereotype that Shangaan or Tsonga people are backward — thanks to apartheid that encouraged ethnic divisions among South Africans,” McCloy says.

“In reality though, these bags are beautiful with their adorning African prints. I have always admired African prints, and so (do) a lot of people overseas.

“Everyone has a story to tell about these bags. It always invokes a certain reaction from any person who comes across it. In West Africa, they call it Ghana Go Home.

“Associating African prints with inferior products is a result of our colonial and apartheid heritage. It applies to a lot of things African, such as wearing natural African hair or dreadlocks.”

McCloy says she has lived in several countries and her mother collects African prints from the rest of the continent.

She has learned to appreciate the brash colours and has not only found a purpose for the plastic prints, but made it a business too.

The smart shoes McCloy makes from these plastic bags lends them a dignity that symbolically stretches to the Shangaan people in a subversive way. The shoes retail for R500 a pair and their popularity is growing.

“I am actually thinking of mass producing these colours on to a canvas and then manufacturing the shoes in a factory as demand is increasing, especially internationally,” she says.

“They are all hand-made and I would like to expand and supply shops in Cape Town, Durban, Harare, Lagos, Ghana, Kenya and, of course, the US. Currently, I supply shops in Johannesburg, including one at the recently opened retail space in Melville, 27 Boxes.”

A serial entrepreneur, McCloy continues to play crucial roles within the arts and culture space in SA. She co-founded the youth and culture publication Rage.co.za, co-produced a TV music show also called Rage, and has marketed several culture-related TV productions as a publicist. She is also a freelance writer.

“Some of my regular customers are from the entertainment industry because of my background in that sector. For example, the musician Lira was one of the first people to buy earrings from me that I source from back home in Lesotho,” says McCloy.