“A Spirited Approach to South African Luxury” 

Designing since the age of 9 Creative Director, Jacques Bam, always had a fascination and love for the fashion industry. He completed a BA in Fashion Design in 2017 and a BA Honours in Fashion in 2018, both summa cum laude, at LISOF (now STADIO School of Fashion). During this time, he interned in the fields of styling and costume design for Ky Boshoff and Pierre Viennings respectively. While completing his BA Honours degree, Jacques was announced the winner of the SA Fashion Week student competition. This enabled Jacques to work for, and receive business training, from acclaimed South African design houses ERRE and Isabel de Villiers, subsequently launching his brand The BAM Collective in 2019, as a finalist at the SA Fashion Week New Talent Search. The brand has since collaborated with many major South African companies including Ford South Africa, MRP, Hisense South Africa, OPPO South Africa, Savanna Cider and Comfort fabric softener.

During 2021 the brand was selected to form part of the ‘Fashion Bridges - I Ponti Della Moda’ project, which saw the brand travel to Milan, Italy to showcase a collaborative capsule collection with Julian Cerro from Florence, Italy. The capsule collection was presented at both Milan Fashion Week and SA Fashion Week, after Jacques received training, as part of the project, from Polimoda Firenze in Florence, Italy. 

In 2022, the brand was selected as a laureate for the second edition of the Africa Fashion UP programme under Share Africa. For the project the brand travelled to Paris, France to showcase a collection, where the brand was subsequently declared the winner of the programme. The programme included various prestigious sponsors and jury members including Balenciaga, Galeries Lafayette, Sisley, Leridon Collection, Binance, HEC and 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair. The prize included a mentorship programme with Balenciaga as well as a training course with HEC Paris. During the same year the brand also won trans-seasonal brand of the year at the TWYG Sustainability Awards, as well as emerging designer of the year at the FIASA awards.

Most recently, the brand was selected to from part of the first ever A-Propos showroom, which will see the brand travel to Milan, Italy to present it's collection to various Italian buyers and press during Milan Fashion Week in September 2023.

Today the brand operates from a small studio in Centurion, South Africa, where all products are produced per order. The brand specializes in taking a spirited approach to South African luxury. It uses graphic prints, bold colours, striking silhouettes and experimental details to explore the commercial and conceptual boundaries that clothing holds. The brand is inspired by the liveliness of the South Africans it surrounds itself with and the emotional connection we have with the clothes we wear.