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Hello

Twyg is pronounced twig which means “a new branch or shoot” or “getting wise”. Both these meanings are appropriate for the work we do. We create content, events and campaigns to promote a way of being that is sustainable, circular, regenerative, caring and ethical. We interface with consumers and producers to promote SDG12. We create digital content to inform, inspire and educate. Our stories feature people and products that don’t harm the planet nor people. We also create bespoke experiences, workshops and campaigns in collaboration with like-minded organisations.

We launched the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards in 2019 to celebrate designers who use sustainable practices and to promote their work to consumers.

Change is happening. Time is limited. We have to reduce inequality, poverty and carbon emissions fast. The time to do this is now. We’re cognisant of this urgency that’s why our work supports positive change. Twyg is a not-for-profit company. Read our manifesto here. 

Team

Jackie May

Jackie May

Founder & Editor

Jackie has worked in big and medium-sized mainstream media organisations for more than 20 years. She launched Twyg in 2018. At the core of the content she publishes on the platform is a commitment to exploring ways we can live well now while ensuring a kinder, inclusive, nature-friendly future for all. When she’s not producing content for her site, she works with Refashion Lab exploring inclusive and repurposed fashion. Jackie is a graduate of Stellenbosch University, University of South Africa and University of London. In 2020, she graduated with a PGDip from the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University. She is currently studying for an MPhil Sustainable Development. 

Catherine del Monte

Catherine del Monte

Contributing Writer

Catherine is a junior freelance journalist and copywriter from Gqeberha, now based in Cape. She graduated with a BA Hons in Journalism from Stellenbosch University in 2019. Following a curiosity for fashion, culture, people and planet, she joined the Twyg as an intern in 2020 where learnt about the far-reaching effects of the fast fashion industry and the need to work live today to ensure a better tomorrow. Driven by her appetite for exploring, learning and unlearning, Catherine’s contributions to Twyg are about researching, charting and sharing practical, accessible, inclusive and fun ways to live a more environmentally and socially-engaged life.
Tandekile Mkize

Tandekile Mkize

Fashion Editor

Tandekile Mkize is a fashion stylist with a distinct South African visual narrative. He contributes to a visual vernacular that intimates black love and limitless possibilities. His fashion and wardrobe styling has been featured in Jeremy Loops “In This town” music video featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo and multiple publications. He reflects the future of fashion as sustainable and champions local fashion brands and labels.  Mkize is the artistic director of digital fashion production house, Thug Alchemy which is a space for mixed-media experimentation that especially empowers young black creatives through collaboration to develop a community of young, black creative talent.

Nabeela Karim

Nabeela Karim

Junior Writer

Nabeela Karim has always been drawn to the stories that exist around her. Her love of fashion exposed her to the dark aspects of the industry and has since developed into a passion for human rights and environmental justice. She views storytelling as a great way in which to connect us to each other and to nature. She finds joy in sharing the stories of others to further our sense of compassion and empathy. While contributing to Twyg, Nabeela is studying English literature at the University of Cape Town. She hopes to continue advocating for sustainability and social justice through writing and storytelling. Nabeela lives with her family in Cape Town.
Nobanzi Sokhuthu

Nobanzi Sokhuthu

Production Assistant

Nobanzi Sokhuthu was born in Tsolo in the Eastern Cape where she was surrounded by mountains and brightly coloured dwellings. Her childhood dreams of becoming a biochemist or a pilot were diffused by reality. But these everyday realities motivated her to work hard. She graduated with a diploma in electronic engineering and worked as a teacher’s assistant before joining the Afrika Tikkun skills development program. Through this program she was placed as an intern with Twyg. Here, she ensures deadlines are met, projects are administrated and she produces content. Nobanzi likes a good challenge and to nourish her curiosity and learn new skills. She loves fashion, reading and watching movies.

Ky Bxshxff

Ky Bxshxff

Contributing Fashion Producer and Director

Cape Town-based mythmaker and multi-hyphenate, works in fashion, film and phrasing. They create mythologies which seek to re-interpret the past to re-imagine a possible future, working as a creative director, stylist and fashion writer, wordsmith and filmmaker. Their directorial debut and the first in a series, CABIN FEVER, was released in 2020. Their contributions to Twyg are as much about unlearning what’s problematic as they are about learning solutions for community-based living. Ky’s work asks only one thing: that you look at the future with clear eyes: not what is or what has always been; but what should be and what can be. Where to from here? Let’s work that out together! 

Directors

Aaniyah Omardien

Aaniyah Omardien

Aaniyah is the founder and director of The Beach Co-op, a not-for-profit company on a mission to eliminate, reuse, redesign and recycle single-use plastic, which often lands up in our oceans and on our beaches. Throughout her career, Aaniyah has focused on connecting people to nature. Before founding the Beach Co-op, she spent a few years nurturing a young family. Preceding that, she worked for WWF SA for almost a decade where she helped launch and manage their marine programme. She has since consulted to WWF on consumer and restaurant engagement with single-use plastics.
Tshepo Bhengu

Tshepo Bhengu

Tshepo Bhengu is the co-founder and the chief of operations of The Rewoven Company, a textile business pioneering the future of textile production in South Africa. Rewoven’s vision is to recycle textile waste and manufacture 100% recycled fabrics. Tshepo is also the co-founder and director of Future of Fashion, a two-day indaba in South Africa that provides a platform for key stakeholders in the clothing industry to collaboratively learn and share solutions that can contribute to the development of a thriving, ethical, and future-fit African fashion industry. Tshepo strives to lead responsibly towards creating sustainable solutions that will contribute towards the environment and a society with an improved sense of well-being. Tshepo holds a BCom degree in Financial Accounting from the University of Cape Town.

 

Solange Rosa

Solange Rosa

Solange Rosa is an independent consultant, Associate Faculty and Senior Policy and Strategy Adviser with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town (UCT). Her clients include Human Rights Watch, International Labour Organisation, Rockefeller Foundation, DG Murray Trust, and National Departments of Education and Economic Development. She teaches on Executive Education and MBA programmes at the UCT Graduate School of Business and the UCT School of Economics. She has a Doctorate in Law from the University of Stellenbosch and a Masters degree in Law from the University of Cape Town.
Gary Cotterell

Gary Cotterell

Gary is an interdisciplinary creative director, product designer and published writer based in Cape Town. He was the founding editor and creative director of Wanted, Business Day’s multiple award-winning luxury lifestyle magazine, and Elle Decor South Africa’s first editor-at-large. When he is not designing or collaborating with talented local artisans, Gary is the editor-at-large for Wanted and the Sunday Times focusing on horology, classic cars, art, design and sustainable design practices. With an earlier career as an architect in London followed by product designing and manufacturing, he not only has an appreciation for good design but an understanding of the production processes involved for best possible practice. 

Our work is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 12, which aims to ensure sustainable consumption and production. Read More