Entertainment

South Africa's Mandela foundation breaks into fashion

March 9, 2011 / 11:59 AM EST / CBS/AP

Former South African President Nelson Mandela, age 90, walks on stage for a campaign rally April 19, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Getty

(CBS/AP) Nelson Mandela: Leader. Nobel Peace Prize winner. Fashion icon. The Nelson Mandela Foundation is set to launch an international clothing line.

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The money raised from the project will help sustain the foundation's charitable gifts and boost South Africa's burdened textile and clothing industry.

The fashion line will be called 46664 Apparel - named after Mandela's prison number from the time spent on Robben Island. The cancer survivor spent nearly 27 years in prison before becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994.

The preppy-looking men's and classic-style women's range is being designed by Seardel, South Africa's largest textile and clothing producer. The foundation announced Tuesday it will launch the clothing line in South Africa late this summer and debut in the United States and Britain next year.