What started out as a passion project in a 10x10m room in the basement of a university building has grown to be one of the biggest and best-known brands in South Africa. For more than a decade, Freedom of Movement has been making moves in more ways than one.

Freedom of Movement (FOM) is a lifestyle and clothing brand founded by Roal and Léan Boezaart, two brothers from Pretoria whose dream to become entrepreneurs was born in Stellenbosch.
Having completed their studies at Stellenbosch University, Roal is a qualified civil engineer and Léan a qualified chartered accountant. Today, however, they are the creative director and CEO of FOM.
Small Beginnings
“The Stellenbosch community definitely shaped the founding and development of Freedom of Movement. I was lucky enough to be in a community surrounded by plenty of people,” says Roal. “That was the perfect launch pad for me to start a new business.”
Having a passion for design and entrepreneurship, Roal started to make clothes in his residence room. Soon afterwards, he experimented with the prototype of a leather satchel that aroused interest on campus. In 2013, this gave him the opportunity to host his first workshop in a small room in the basement of the university’s Admin A building, hire his first employee and launch the FOM brand.
“We hired Benjamin Gapara and convinced him and his family to move down to Stellenbosch from Gqeberha,” says Roal. “His skill was actually hand stitching, so it took him about a week and a half to make one bag, and we realised we needed to make a plan. So we moved to a new space in The Woodmill, which was our first factory and retail space.”

The Benjamin
Benjamin played a big role in developing the brand and its first leather bags, making it fitting to name one of these bags after him.
“Developing the first bags, the Benjamin and the Bobby, definitely shaped the direction of Freedom of Movement,” says Roal. “We really want customers to connect with the products. That’s why we wanted to create a personality for our products so that customers can refer to their purchase as a companion they take with them to see the world. Rather than referring to it as a laptop bag, they refer to it as Benjamin.”
With this connection to customers in mind, Roal and Léan aimed to establish a proudly South African brand that focuses heavily on quality. “That’s why I decided on leather,” explains Roal.

The Longevity of Leather
As leather is a durable material that stands the test of time, the FOM team uses it to make the brand’s products while focusing on its core values: quality, longevity and worth. The launch of its leather Vellie shoe may have kickstarted the brand’s momentum – and remains one of its bestsellers – but FOM has developed into a lifestyle brand that specialises in all kinds of products, from clothing and sunglasses to wallets and tekkies.
“Although we’ve grown beyond leather products, we have never ever moved away from our core philosophy of creating quality, sustainable and functional products that people can be proud of,” says Roal.
Being a perfectionist at heart, he focuses on the quality of FOM products while also paying attention to the smaller details. This includes growing the brand through community and not just sales.
The FOM X Kolisi Campaign
One core member of the FOM community is Siya Kolisi, captain of the Springbok rugby team, and an old friend of the brothers.
Siya partnered with the brand after being drawn to Roal and Léan’s fresh take on traditional South African design, especially in their Vellie footwear.

In 2019, FOM’s partnership with Siya led to the launch of the Field Green Vellie. However, this launch was aimed at much more than footwear, as all the revenue from the Field Green Vellie was allocated to the construction of a community rugby field in Zwide, a disadvantaged community in the Eastern Cape where Siya was raised.
“We find it super inspirational the way Siya connects and gives back to the community. And for us as a brand it was very important to also get onto corporate social investment projects. I think the Siya Kolisi partnership was the perfect vehicle for us, the first step in the right direction,” says Roal.
Growing and Uniting
To this day, FOM continues to grow its loyal customer base and the size of its team, having opened 28 retail stores in South Africa and a warehouse in London.
While distributing all over Europe and hoping to expand to other parts of the globe as well, FOM’s focus remains being recognised as a proudly South African brand.
“We believe there is still plenty of opportunity in South Africa to grow comfortably to 50 stores in the coming years and to get different South Africans on board and buying into the brand,” says Roal. “Our ultimate goal is to connect South Africans from completely different walks of life.”