Honeydew Drapers was founded in 1986 by Mrs. Strydom as a small drapers business at Honeydew Shopping Centre.  Over time the business evolved from a drapers business into a full time school wear business. 

After a number of years in operation,  Mrs Strydom was joined in the business by her daughter Marlet Tromp, who took over sole ownership of the business when Mrs. Strydom retired.  With Marlet driving the business, it  continued to expand as it became an accredited supplier for an increasing number of schools in the area.   The number of schools for which Honeydew Drapers is an accredited supplier has now  grown to 13 schools including four Trinity House schools. 

With the establishment of Trinity House Heritage Hill in Midrand, a satellite store was established at the school. The satellite store operates for a limited number of hours.   In addition to running Honeydew Drapers,  Marlet Tromp studied for a PHD from the University of Johannesburg.  She also  developed a significant life coaching practise.   In 2016, Marlet decided to concentrate on her life coaching practise and sold Honeydew Drapers. 

The business was acquired by Bonita Esat.  Bonita is a chemist by profession and worked in the food and pharmaceutical industries for Tiger Brands, Zimbabwe Pharmaceuticals, L’Oreal and Mirren Pharmaceuticals.   She is married into the Esat family who have a long history of being school wear retailers for over 70 years. 

The business changed its name to Honeydew Schoolwear, keeping in line with its focus on school wear retailing.

We are committed to ensuring that stock is always available for our customers.  We aim to  provide a great service to customers.  We ensure  that items are of the proper quality and have been approved by the school. We charge our customers a fair price for the merchandise. 

We have strong relationships with key suppliers and are able to develop specific items for schools.

Where a child needs a specific size that is not a standard size we are able to work with our suppliers to source the item provided parents give us sufficient to get the items made up and payment of a deposit by the parent.

We encourage parents to bring their children to the shop for a proper fitting before buying the item.  We are proudly South African and only buy from local manufacturers.