The two brothers who founded one of South Africa’s biggest sportswear brands out of a university dorm room
Daneel and Stef Steinmann founded Old School, one of South Africa’s biggest sports merchandise companies, out of a university dorm room in 2019.
Today, the business works with South Africa’s biggest sports teams and stars, including the Springboks and MMA fighter Dricus du Plessis.
During the 2019 Rugby World Cup, brothers Daneel and Stef, who were students at Stellenbosch University, wanted to wear vintage rugby jerseys.
However, nothing like it was available on the market at the time. This sparked an idea to find out whether others also wanted something similar.
“We did an Instagram giveaway to see if people would want to win something like it, and we had tens of thousands of comments, but the product didn’t exist,” Daneel said on the Leaders Unfiltered podcast.
They simply copied a photo from the internet and said the jersey was up for grabs. Seeing the influx of comments, they realised that if so many people wanted to win this jersey, they would probably want to buy it too.
That next week, Daneel and Stef started pre-selling products. The business didn’t have a very sophisticated start, though.
For the first few months, they didn’t have a website. When a customer was interested, Daneel had to send a photo of his ID to prove he was real before they made an EFT payment.
Slowly, the business started growing and gaining legs. However, the first few years were a balancing act for Daneel, who remained focused on academics.
He earned the title of the youngest sommelier in Africa, graduated cum laude with an accounting degree, and completed his articles.
Daneel also worked in sales at VATIT, a tech business in Johannesburg, for two years. At the company, he became part of a team tasked with establishing a new business focused on eCommerce, ZEE.
By 2021, ZEE had grown to almost 100 employees, and Daneel had the opportunity to attend global expos and events.
Growing Old School
Although Daneel and Stef kept running Old School, they viewed it as more of a side hustle than a proper business.
This changed in 2021, when they launched their first leisurewear collection and realised Old School had serious potential. A key partnership would also soon change the brand’s trajectory.
At the time, they were focused solely on building a rugby leisurewear brand and worked with prominent players like Evan Roos.
However, a few months after shooting the clothing, these players would sign big deals with other clothing brands, and Old School would have to pull the campaign.
They realised that rather than working with several Super Rugby players, since they couldn’t afford to pay for a Springbok, they should find an athlete who could grow with them.
Daneel realised that working with someone in an individual sport would be ideal, since the commercial value in a sport like rugby is diluted among the whole team, and not concentrated on a specific player.
He wanted to find someone who could become as big as the Springboks, and decided to try to partner with mixed martial artist Dricus du Plessis.
This was a risky move at the time because the odds were heavily stacked against him to lose a fight against Australian Robert Whittaker. However, on 9 July 2023, Du Plessis came out victorious.
Thus, 2023 marked the turning point for Old School for many reasons. This was the first time they had a full-time staff in the business.
It was also the time of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which, paired with the Springboks’ victory, caused the business to grow 20x.
From potential lawsuit to key partnership
Old School hit a major hurdle the day before they opened their flagship store in Stellenbosch in June 2024. Daneel explained that they had budgeted around R800,000 to fit the shop, and it had already signed lease agreements to open six kiosks.
However, right before the store was set to open, the business received a legal letter from the South African Rugby Union (SARU), claiming that Old School is infringing on their intellectual property rights.
Although they had foreseen something like this, the business had grown so much around the Dricus du Plessis partnership that they didn’t believe they had infringed on SARU’s copyright.
“That’s actually one of the worst days of my life. I remember this complete numbness,” Daneel said.
“It’s crazy because you’ve got this big employee payroll, you’ve got all of these commitments to leases, you’ve just spent R2 million on opening, and you’re sitting there, and you think, do we open our doors tomorrow?”
Ultimately, they decided to go ahead with the store opening, and Old School met with SARU to discuss the matter.
They explained to the union that there is a demand for white-label rugby leisure and support clothing, which isn’t currently being filled.
Ultimately, what started as a potential lawsuit ended with Old School and SA Rugby deciding to work together to sell official Springbok merchandise.
“I think when we met with them, there was actually just such alignment on our vision – what we wanted to build and what they actually wanted to be in the market,” Daneel said. “I think even if they went with someone else, the reality was we weren’t going to stop.”
On 8 November 2024, SA Rugby officially launched a range of off-field Springbok-themed clothing in partnership with Old School.
Business booms
Even though the brand had seen tremendous growth during the World Cup year in 2023, Old School managed to double its revenue growth in 2024.
In October 2024, Old School launched its line of Orlando Pirates jerseys. By December, the business had outgrown its second warehouse.
Old School also launched a collaboration with Freedom of Movement and continued to open stores and kiosks across the country. Today, it has 12 locations, including Rosebank Mall, Canal Walk and the Mall of Africa.
It offers leisurewear for several different sports teams and brands, including the Kaizer Chiefs, Blue Bulls and Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey.
Old School also offers accessories like sunglasses, vintage rugby and soccer balls, luggage, wallets and belts. The business is widely recognised as South Africa’s foremost brand for premium, vintage, off-field sports merchandise.
Old School
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