Press Releases Are More Than Promotional tools

By Khaya Mnisi

About six publications or so, plus a lot of influencers and fashion pages, have covered New Balance’s Grey Days 2026 campaign. It’s their annual month-long celebration of their most iconic colourway. Meanwhile, from what I’ve seen, only two media outlets, Kreative Kornerr and Art Moves Culture, covered the release of the Boys of Soweto Meerkat Retro Kicks

I mean look at how cool these kicks are

And honestly, that bores me. Not because the BOS Retro Kicks didn’t get media attention, but because I genuinely think it deserved more storytelling around it, not just uninspired media coverage.

When New Balance drops something, I sometimes get a press release that don’t just show the product. They explain the thinking behind it, the campaign, the references, the bigger idea behind the release. It’s not just “here’s a shoe,” it’s context. And I actually like that. I wish more local brands did the same thing.

Because when Boys of Soweto released the Meerkat Retro kicks, most of what I saw felt very simple. Just the shoe, the colourways, and the price. And that’s it.

And I think that’s a missed opportunity, because the shoe itself feels like it carries more than that. It feels like there’s a story behind it, even if it’s not being told out loud.

The coverage I did see was fine, but it stayed on the surface. It didn’t go into the why. Why this shoe? What inspired it? What does it mean? What was the thinking behind it?

And I find myself thinking about that a lot. Because it’s the same thing with music or film. When a film comes out, the creators don’t just drop it and disappear. They go on press runs. They talk about the process, the meaning, the references, the choices they made. Musicians do the same thing when they release albums. They explain the world behind the work.

I think fashion, especially here, could do more of that when something really deserves it.

Of Course, not every product needs a long story. But some do. And I think the Boys of Soweto Meerkat Retro kicks are one of those cases.

I sometimes look at products not just as products, but as vessels for stories. Things that carry a moment, a feeling, a culture, a time.

That’s why I love Thebe Magugu a lot. His work always feels like it has a story attached to it. Even though it exists as clothing that can be sold, there’s still something deeper there. A history, a reference point, a conversation. The product and the story sit together.

That’s what I wish we saw more of.

There’s also a responsibility on us as journalists to chase stories. To see something interesting, reach out, and try to pull the story out of what people are making. But when we do, there’s often a kind of nonchalance on the other side. Not always refusal, just a lack of urgency or interest in going deeper. And I don’t fully understand that, especially when the work is good.

And it’s not just brands, it’s creators in general. Sometimes people just don’t want to talk about what they’ve made, even when there’s clearly more to say. But hey.

Maybe that’s fine in some cases. But when something feels culturally interesting, I think it deserves more than silence or surface-level explanation.

And it’s just interesting that international brands often get more consistent and structured media coverage than local brands.

And at the end of the day, this is a call to action for clothing brands to spend time actually writing press releases and building real relationships with the media.

Because without that, even the best work risks being seen as just another drop instead of something that deserves to be remembered and archived.

South African brands are creating beautiful work. I just think we lose something when we don’t tell the full story around it.