Young Black adolescents can no longer be ignored as an important and strategic marketsegment in the South African clothing industry. Yet, very little research has beenundertaken in the academic domain on their perceptions and attitudes on fashion ingeneral and certain clothing items in particular. Psychological aspects influencing thebuying behaviour of young male and female Black consumers have not been explored ingreat depth. The focus of this article was young Black consumers’ perceptions of branded versusunbranded clothes. The results of this exploratory study indicated that (i) both maleand female Black adolescents share positive perceptions towards branded clothes; (ii)although unbranded items were perceived as less favourable, their worth was not denied;and (iii) when it comes to possible differences in the two genders’ perceptions of designerlabels versus non-designer labels, they speak with one voice: designer labels are muchpreferred. The article concludes with recommendations to marketers in the South African clothingindustry as well as some comments on future research on this increasingly importanttopic.