Mandela, Madiba – the clan name by which he was affectionately known – and other names associated with the anti-apartheid leader are some of the most desired brands in the world, experts say, according to FinancialTimes.

Brand Mandela is a growing industry profiting from the name of the beloved former South African president who died last week.

“It is going to represent a multibillion-dollar brand over the years,” said Dean Crutchfield, a New York-based independent brand expert who advises top U.S. companies. “The brand is going to explode.”

In upscale shopping malls of Johannesburg, the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s official clothing brand, 466/64, sells the colorful batik shirts favored by the late president for about $45. In Pretoria, as 90,000 people queued to view Mandela lying in state, vendors sold unofficial rugby shirts with his image, fist raised in his famous pose, for $15.

Set up in 1999, the Nelson Mandela Foundation is the official custodian of Brand Mandela, getting 10 requests a week on average for licences. But brand experts believe that following the former president’s death and the global attention his memorial triggered, requests will skyrocket. So too will the illegal use of the name.

More people will want to associate themselves with Mandela’s name after the mass media coverage, but “If the Mandela name is plastered everywhere, the value will drop,” said Allen Adamson, managing director at brand consultants Landor Associates in New York, FinancialTimes reports.

It will be virtually impossible to stop people from using the Mandela name fraudulently, said Oscar Yuan, vice president of U.S.-based Millward Brown Optimor, a brand consultancy. “You cannot stop the T-shirts,” he said, but the Mandela family will need to rethink the name’s overall use.

Mandela was married three times and has six children and 17 grandchildren; some have used the name for commercial enterprises. Two grandchildren appeared
in a U.S. reality TV show, “Being Mandela.”

Mandela’s daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, and one of her daughters recently launched House of Mandela, a wine business that distributes South African cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and shiraz under the Mandela label.

Outside Africa, House of Mandela wine is sold in China, Brazil and Canada. In the U.S., you can buy it in some states at Whole Foods, Target and Total Wine, according to Publicist Yvette Harris of Harris Public Relations in Miami.

Inside Africa, House of Mandela wine is sold in South Africa, Ethiopia, and soon in Kenya, according to an earlier AFKInsider original report.

House of Mandela claims to follow the ideals of Mandela and his
ancestors, according to the House of Mandela website.

“We are called to redefine our role and carry the ancient wisdom into everything we do, whether commercial or charitable,” the website says.

Makaziwe told the Financial Times this year it was not sacrilegious for the rightful owners to use the name of Mandela. “As long as we carry this legacy with integrity and dignity there’s nothing wrong at all,” she said.

But disputes within the family, especially legal battles earlier this year when Mandela was in hospital, concern some South Africans, FinancialTimes reports.

Those concerns may have been what prompted this statement by Mandela family spokesman Lt. General Temba Matanzima: “We enter into a solemn covenant with you, the people of our country, Africa and citizens of the world that we will be true to the values and ideals which Tata (Mandela) stood for.”