Lace locks are the sneaker accessory we're all going to want

Our street style is highly influenced by bold personalities. With this, originality is key, and being noticed is the main prize.

Local designers and stylists are finding new and interesting ways to express their identity, like Omphile Sibanda, a jewellery designer who is merging her interests into her work.

Sibanda is also the founder of jewellery brand Peaccessories.

“With street culture there are no actual rules, and that’s where the fun is. You get to put forward your personality in many ways. The way people freely dress up to highlight their personalities is my favourite part. Which is why I figured that personalising sneakers would be such a cool expressive way to speak to the culture,” she says about her latest creation.

Sibanda’s interestingly cool sneaker accessories, called lace locks – a metal design you can lace into your sneakers – was popularly worn by hip-hop legends Run DMC, and are inspired by her love of sneakers and her constant desire to customise and make them her own.

“The idea was mostly encouraged by one of my mentors – Menzi Mthethwa of Ayashisa Amateki, who is one of the biggest sneaker culture heads in the country.” Sibanda takes catchy phrases that come to mind for the design or those that she personalises for followers.

“I move to selecting a font that I think would work best for the idea and print out the little catchy phrases. I then transfer them to a small metal sheet that I cut out into a frame. It can be sterling silver, brass or gold. I work mostly with brass and sterling silver because it’s more affordable.”

Sibanda has received a Seda Platinum Incubator learnership and says that while studying Jewellery Design & Manufacturing at the Tshwane University of Technology, she scooped the Shining Light Development award from the De Beers Group of Companies for her collection Knotted Ends in 2015.

“I later on participated in a design and manufacturing competition in 2016 known as PlatAfrica, sponsored by Anglo American, and I was named one of the finalists under the student/ apprentice category.”

Sibanda says her work is an extension of who she is.

“As a child, I was drawn to creating small objects with my hands, and drawing formed a huge part of my childhood.”

We can’t wait to put these locks on our kicks.

• Prices for the lace locks are R350, including delivery. To order, email peaccessories17@gmail.com