South African Youtuber, actor, comedian and recent winner of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favourite African Social Media Star, Prev Reddy, has released a new range of merchandise called ‘Garam Gang’, and will be donating a portion of the profits to The Phoenix Animal Care & Treatment (P.A.C.T) organisation.
Garam, meaning ‘hot’ in Hindi, perfectly describes this unique line of street apparel with a nod towards South African Indian culture. Paying homage to his online persona Aunty Shamilla and her spicy clique, the Garam Gang range of locally produced hoodies and socks stays true to the essence of love, warmth and friendship represented by the groups of Aunties seen in Prev’s videos.
“The idea for Garam Gang was something I had for a very long time, and I wanted to create a line of merchandise that was entirely different to the last, something with quirky pieces that you couldn’t find in retail stores. I knew that I had a quirky set of characters that I created so I decided to incorporate them into the designs” says Prev.
“With the launch of this new venture for me, I knew it was important to give back, considering everything that is going in the world right now. I know that there are a lot of groups and organisations helping struggling families, I noticed that animal organisations were struggling just as much, if not more, so I decided to work with PACT” he added.
PACT is dedicated to providing care and medical treatment for animals, and having worked with this non-profit organisation before, Prev aims to keep helping the organisation care for animals as best they can.
“Times have been very hard. We now are feeding more then 190 animals because of Covid-19 and the numbers grown every week. We’re struggling to make sure these animals have food to eat” says Neeri Naidoo from PACT. “This collaboration means that we can have some peace of mind that someone cares about these animals. Someone is acting on their behalf, someone is advocating for them. Somebody is being the voice for the voiceless.” she added.
The Garam Gang merchandise is on sale now with black and white hoodies as well as socks available with plans to release sweaters and Shamilla’s gowns later in the month. Visit http://www.garamgang.com/ to purchase items from this range. All additional tips added to the basket on the site will also be donated to PACT, ensuring the organisation is able to feed, house and treat the animals at their facility during this cold winter and Covid-19 period.
