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South Africa Fashion Week (SAFW) has been a launchpad for some of the country’s biggest names, including Mmusomaxwell, Thebe Magugu, Rich Mnisi and Lukhanyo Mdingi. Now, with those designers showing in other cities including London, Milan and Paris, there’s new space to fill. Who are the emerging designers who will step up?
Fikile Sokhulu, Viviers Studio and Munkus are among those scheduled to present their collections for this season’s fashion week, taking place 18-21 April at the Mall Of Africa in Johannesburg. South African celebrities, influencers, buyers including omnichannel retailer Mr Price, and press are expected to attend, and the designers on schedule see it as a high-profile moment to make the most of the attention.
This year, there’s an increased effort to connect designers to the international market and grow retail partnerships. An initiative between SAFW and À–Propos, a newly launched platform for emerging brands in Southern Africa, founded by Istituto Marangoni’s Massimo Casagrande and Vogue Italia’s Sennait Ghebreab, launched in September. Its aim is to nurture designers through mentorship and provide access to international retailers. SAFW also teamed up with New York’s The Good Six agency, which has worked with brands including Gaurav Gupta and American fashion brand Rodarte.
Fashion week lands as South Africa’s fashion industry is heating up. Global players such as Amiri and Gucci have opened brick-and-mortar stores across the country, while local powerhouses like Maxhosa Africa are establishing strong businesses at home. It’s also become a hotbed for fostering global talent: Mmusomaxwell won the Karl Lagerfeld award for innovation in 2022, while Lukhanyo Mdingi won the LVMH Special Prize in 2021.
South Africa wants to be a hub for emerging designers to reach global status, but it’s not immune to the continent’s broader challenges for fashion brands and designers. The Africa Free Trade Agreement needs amending to ensure designers can ship goods within Africa with ease, and infrastructure is lacking for resources. Connecting with the luxury market in South Africa is difficult for young and emerging designers, as many say the market needs nurturing. Without the reputation of global players, winning over new luxury consumers is not easy to do outside of Johannesburg and Cape Town, the country’s two key luxury hotspots.
“Just like most countries in Africa, there’s no government support. There’s no such thing as a South African Fashion Council that’s going to help designers,” says fashion journalist and critic Odunayo (Ayo) Ojo, also known as Fashion Roadman, who released a documentary series spotlighting South African fashion last year. “It’s not like the UK with the BFC or [US’s] CFDA. They have to learn to stand on their own two feet.”
He adds that this has taught a number of brands to sustain themselves financially, as funding opportunities are rare.
“Most brands in South Africa are self-funded, so the first few years are quite gruelling in terms of cash flow,” says Robyn Keyser, founder and creative director of streetwear brand Artclub and Friends, who launched the brand in 2016. It’s built a cult following by working with buzzy South African rappers and photographers. “Building a brand without much resources is quite the balancing act. That’s why I have to attribute a huge part of why we’ve done well to the community we’ve built around our brand.”
The DTC vs wholesale conundrum
For young designers, finding the right balance between direct-to-consumer and wholesale is difficult. Those in emerging markets not only benefit from the exposure multi-brand retail platforms offer – the logistical support they provide is crucial to bridging the markets together. However, many designers in South Africa are choosing to nail down their DTC business before expanding into wholesale.
The current instability of multi-brand retailers in Europe is forcing designers like Keyser to rethink their wholesale strategy. Following the collapse of UK’s Matchesfashion, the advice from her mentors is to prioritise her DTC business. “So many of the multi-brand buyers in Europe specifically have cut their orders across the board due to financial stresses,” Keyser says. “Her advice to me was to keep our direct-to-consumer business strong because it s far more reliable and then only focus on that international element when we don’t need it. It’s a nice add-on, and that’s where we’re at now. We’ve got a great foundation locally, so we can start looking at those kinds of orders.”
She argues that opening a store is less risky for young designers in South Africa compared to those in the UK or Europe, as deposits are low and sales in stores are high thanks to regular product drops and limited edition collaborations. Artclub and Friend’s stores generate approximately 50 per cent of profits, the company said.
Securing international buyers means changes must be made to the existing collection, says Lezanne Viviers, who founded Viviers Studio in 2019. As a designer who typically creates avant-garde garments such as a Mycelium Rhizome (plant stem) encrusted dress, she recognised that in order to win over national and international buyers, more commercial pieces are required.
It’s a slight pivot away from her DTC business, as fans of the brand prefer to buy directly from her studio in Johannesburg, where they can have pieces tailored or made-to-measure. It’s an intimate shopping experience that high spending customers in South Africa value, she adds.
“In Milan, we presented our first ready-to-wear collection to buyers. We really developed it from the point of view that it will be sold in stores and it’s a process that is very new to me,” she says. In a bid to minimise risk, Viviers has strategically built the business around its atelier and bespoke channels, where she hand makes high-quality garments in her studio in Johannesburg.
Now, Viviers is looking to explore the brand’s retail potential. “The risk is much higher with wholesale,” she says, citing the increased markdowns and unsold stock. Viviers Studio is now working with a small factory in South Africa that will produce limited units of the brand’s signature pieces including three styles of trousers, a maxi dress and a jumpsuit. It’s a move that will bring down production costs, and help the brand expand their market by securing more retail partners in South Africa. DTC is currently 80 per cent of the business and 20 per cent wholesale. Prices range from $2,916 for a Mycelium dress to $222 for a mesh t-shirt. Sales are over $100,000.
In order to increase sales, Fikile Sokhulu, founder of the eponymous label, says she’ll need to “minimise the design element” so that her pieces are more wearable and attractive to buyers. “If not it’d be difficult if I want to do retail and reach a wider audience,” says the Durban-based designer. “I want to create something that has appeal to a wide audience: I have stripes, I have prints… I’m creating iconic products and making them for a contemporary woman.” She notes that her slow approach to fashion would also require reworking as production will have to increase in order to reach a mass audience. Currently, Sokhulu and her artisan make five pieces a week. Sales are under $50,000.
For Munkus founder Thando Ntuli, retail partnerships have been crucial for customer acquisition within South Africa. Key retailers include V&A’s Waterfront, 99 Design store and ‘We are Egg’ which has three stores across South Africa. “If you have more brick-and-mortar stores or you have a physical presence where they [customers] can bump into your work, you end up doing better than you do on e-commerce,” Ntuli says. Wholesale currently accounts for 70 per cent of the business, and DTC is 30 per cent. Prices range from 5,000 rand ($266) to 14,000 rand ($746). Sales are over $60,000.
Merchants On Long, which stocks Viviers Studio, is the go-to destination for luxury African fashion in South Africa and beyond. “While we once operated a pop-up store in Burlington Arcade, our online platform now fulfils the role of exposing brands to an international clientele,” says chief operating officer Jeanine Benjamin. “Our flagship store in Cape Town draws a significant number of tourists. Many view it as a destination to explore the finest African fashion and design conveniently curated under one roof.”
However, there’s now a shift to grow the number of African brands stocked. “Our current strategy is to strengthen and widen our pan African offering, decreasing our South African concentration compared to years gone by,” she adds.
Navigating the international market
Although the goal for many African designers is to increase exposure to the international market, patriotism keeps designers loyal to their homeland. Whether it’s through their collections or having a physical presence at fashion weeks, the tie between designer and their native country is rarely broken.
Despite showcasing at Milan Fashion Week in October, Viviers was keen to have a presence at South Africa Fashion Week. “Five years in, we’ve managed to build a brand and a business with the support of South Africans,” she says. “It’s very important to keep that presence here and include the people who have helped you build the business by continuing to show here and giving them the experience of the brand – you can’t just transfer to Europe.”
A partnership between Italy and South Africa is also attempting to boost exposure to the international market. Viviers was among the cohort of designers selected to showcase their collection in Milan as part of the ‘Fashion Bridges – I Ponti della Moda’ programme, in a bid to encourage collaboration between South Africa’s fashion and textile industries and their Italian counterparts. Under that scheme, designers from South Africa and Italy have the opportunity to showcase their collections at the alternative fashion week, as well as gain access to industry mentorship, such as Massimiliano Giornetti, the former creative director of Ferragamo, who mentored Viviers. This season Italian designer Andrea Adamo, founder of Andreādamo, will present her collection on 19 April.
Expanding the business overseas comes with a wave of logistical challenges, from shipping cost to port delays, a sentiment shared by many African designers. Long term, Ntuli’s goal is to grow Munkus into an international business. “It s something we’ve looked into, the only problem we have is our shipping in South Africa is so expensive. We’ve looked into trade friendly countries that we [South Africa] have a good relationship with and we can have lower shipping,” she says. “We have so many people that want to buy or stock us on that side but we haven’t been able to do that as of yet.”
Don’t forget your homeland once success hits, says Viviers. “As a South African designer you can still make it abroad and also still show [your collections] here,” she says. “Before I started my own company, I worked for another South African designer. She’s a legend here in the industry, and she always kept showing. As a younger designer, it’s also inspirational to see some of the more established designers showcase, because it inspires you.”
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