Ezinga Soze Zabonwa: A Trip Down Memory Lane.

Mas’khulumela phansi, Instagram has put us onto a lot of things. It’s the plug we never knew we needed.

The first time I came across these images by dynamic duo Sho_Ngwana, I was just randomly scrolling through the timeline on Instagram. Think the first thing my eyes gravitated towards, was the writing on the t-shirts. You really can’t miss the bold writing. You also can’t miss the iconic tick under the writing. It’s in your face, but also at the same time, it evokes a sense of nostalgia to some.

In the township, Nike was more then just another luxury brand. It represented so many things other then it being a label. It represented dreams, style, comfort and influence. Everyone just knew that inike or mnike was a cut above the rest.

There is a beautiful nostalgic feeling that these images bring. Growing up, at some point we used to dress up like our older siblings because we thought they were cool. The way the kids have been styled high lights this. They somewhat represent that young kid who used to dream of one day owning cool clothing items.

These images also represent the time less relationship between Nike and its influence in the township. MNIKE when loosely translated means “Give it to them”. The models are serving us cool kid vibes to the moon and back. The word on its own is also a play on the iconic Nike t-shirt and how when you’re rocking it, you feel unstoppable. It represents the feeling that comes with rocking a fire outfit and having everyone show you respect because icombo yakho yenza one.