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Africa Textile Talks recognises this moment as both a crisis and an opening. As climate pressures intensify, cheap new imports and second-hand clothing flood markets and local industries aim to regain value, Africa Textile Talks asks what it would take to revisit production practices that repair communities and nature. The focus is on how to build capacity and co-create thriving textile systems that serve people, culture and nature. 

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Programme*

8:30 – 9:30
Registration, coffee and exhibition viewing

9:30 – 9:40
Welcome address

9:40 – 10:00
Keynote: State of Earth | Presidential Climate Commissioner Thandile Zonke

10:00 – 10:20
Keynote: Making African fashion | Fashion designer and thinker Wanda Lephoto

10:20 – 10:35
Online presentation: The blueprint for regenerative African fashion | The Earthshot Prize 2025 winner and founder of Lagos Fashion Week Omoyemi Akerele 

10:35 – 11:00
Fireside chat: Design for development | Director of Africa, The Earthshot Prize Simone Smit in conversation with The Earthshot Prize 2025 winner and founder of Lagos Fashion Week Omoyemi Akerele (online)

11:00 – 11:20
Leg stretch

11:20 – 11:40
Keynote: How do we integrate textile production with caring for nature? | Conservation ecology professional Lumko Mboyi

11:40 – 12:15
Fireside chat: Innovative practices to reduce methane emissions on stock farms | Kelp farmer and The Earthshot Prize 2023 finalist Sam Elsom (online), Conservation ecology professional and co-director at Fleece Naturally Africa Lumko Mboyi and Director of Africa, The Earthshot Prize Simone Smit 

12:15 – 13:00

Fireside chat: The how and why of clean, ethical and green factories | Sustainability Director at Mr Price Group, Natasja Ambrosio in conversation with founder of Centre for African Resource Efficiency and Sustainability Zubeida Zwavel 

13:00 – 14:00
Lunch break

14:00 – 14:20
Online presentation:  Made in China for Africa | Africa-China researcher Dr Johanna von Pezold

14:20 – 15:20
Panel: The price of cheap fashion | Author of The Chaos Precinct Tanya Zack, China-Africa researcher Johanna von Pezold, chairperson of the Localisation Support Fund Harald Harvey, CEO of Pep Clothing Marthie Raphael, moderated by founder of Twyg Jackie May

15:20 – 15:30
Leg stretch

15:30 – 16:00
Keynote: State of African textiles and clothing | Creative and cultural industries manager at Afreximbank Khanyi Mashimbye 

16:00 – 17:00

Fireside chat: From here to where? Building thriving textile ecosystems in Africa with Khanyi Mashimbye and founder and executive director of Ivili Group Lilitha Mahlati-Diatta | Moderated by Agisanang Magooa

17:00 – 18:00
Exhibition opening

8:30 – 9:30
Registration, coffee and exhibition viewing

9:30 – 9:50
Keynote: Shweshwe as a living archive of hybridity and defiance | Cultural practitioner Siwa Mgoboza

9:50 – 10:10
Keynote: Materials and afterlives | Cultural worker Thuli Gamedze

10:10 – 10:40
Fireside chat: T-Shirt Tales: What Travels Between the Sleeves | Ghana-based researcher Berendje Willemina (online) and contemporary curator and post-disciplinary artist Nkhensani Mkhari

10:40 – 11:00
Keynote: The cloth remembers: African textiles as living archives of regeneration | Educator and researcher in the field of sustainable fashion Nuraan Petersen

11:00 – 11:10
Leg stretch

11:10 – 11:30
Keynote: Innovate! | Designer and founder of Studio Sway Shaakira Jassat 

11:30 – 11:50
Presentation: Kelp fabric innovator and Global Change Award winner 2026 | Laetus Buberwa 

11:50 – 12:30
Panel: Textile innovation, indigenous knowledge and material futures | Designer and founder of Studio Sway Shaakira Jassat, Kelp fabric innovator and Global Change Award winner 2026 Laetus Buberwa, CEO and founder of Living Carbon Capture Dye System Henry Kavuma (online) and Lesley Hudson representing African indigenous silk, moderated by ICLEI Africa Circular development portfolio manager Kiera Crowe Pettersson 

12:30 – 12:50
Presentation: The Sustainable Adire Report | Founder of Designers Consociate Zara Odu (online) and founder of Afrikstabel Ifebuche Madu

12:50 – 14:00
Lunch break

14:00 – 14:20
Keynote: Building a regenerative African fashion brand | Farmers and designers Gracey Owusu Agyemang and Khudija Zaib 

14:20 – 15:30
Textile challenge: State the case for your fibre |

Wool: Monica Ebert / Cape Wools SA 

Pan African silk: Lesley Hudson

Hemp: Lache Davids / Kokopelli Lifestyle

Cotton: Gracey Owusu Agyemang

Leather: !Khōdanab Bradley Van Sitters

Audience votes.

15:30 – 15:45
Announcement: Twyg Textile Innovation Student Challenge winner

15:45 – 16:00
Closing words

  • Curated by Jackie May and Mphoentle Mongale. With thanks to our advisors who include Sunny Dolat and Dr Erica de Greef
  • This programme is subject to change

In collaboration with

Speakers

Tanya Zack is a South African urban planner and writer whose work has focused on urban regeneration, contemporary migration, informal work, urban policy and affordable housing. Her writing in Wake Up This Is Joburg (Duke University Press, 2022) has been lauded for being amongst the freshest and most original material on an African city, while her recent book The Chaos Precinct, Johannesburg as a Port City is described as setting the bar for South African non-fiction. Both books are longlisted in the Sunday Times/Exclusive Books Literary Awards. The products of Tanya's professional practice in Johannesburg's inner city, including an inner-city transformation policy, and a study of cross border shopping, are recognised as ground-breaking interventions. She grew up in a near inner-city suburb.
Tanya Zack
Founder and Creative Director of Wanda Lephoto, Wanda is a creative and brand consultant whose work sits at the intersection of fashion, culture, identity, and contemporary African storytelling. Founded on critical research, Wanda Lephoto explores a modern notion of luxury dress by merging African cultures, traditions, identities, and approaches with global influences to create new propositions for representation. The brand is founded on the principles of cultural fusion, collaboration, spirituality, inclusivity, and exceptional tailoring, creating space for individuals to negotiate the boundaries of identity, style, and self-expression. At the heart of Wanda's practice is a commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and perspectives, with the African spirit serving as a constant source of inspiration for contemporary narratives. Through fashion, the brand seeks to foster dialogue around shared histories, lived experiences, and collective futures.
Wanda Lephoto
Thulile Gamedze is a Johannesburg-based cultural worker engaged in text, textile and history, and interested in the possibilities that emerge through the collapse of discipline. Through the workings of the 'aftercycle', Thuli's brand FOR THE AFTERLIFE (FTA) experiments with found textile and one-of-one wear. FTA's close material work has ultimately prompted her broader art practice, which is interested in the ghosts of the secondhand realm, and the formal, historic, political and social meanings in (soft) design. Her ongoing artistic and social history project After Library works these ideas into a collaborative reading and archival project engaging ongoing clothing loans. Having piloted in Johannesburg in 2025, the library brings together people with garment design, situated reading, and the documentation of practices of wear. She is currently furthering the research, design and archival practices of the After Library as a PhD candidate at the University of the Western Cape.
Thulile Gamedze
Zara Odu is the founder of Designers Consociate, a consultancy dedicated to building sustainable brands through strategic innovation, cultural insight, partnerships, and circular thinking. She is also the founder of Roundabout, an ecosystem-building platform advancing circular and regenerative practices across Africa’s fashion, textile, and creative industries. With over 18 years of experience across Africa’s fashion and creative sectors, her work sits at the intersection of fashion, innovation, sustainability, and economic development. She has worked with brands, institutions, and industry stakeholders to design strategies, programs, and partnerships that strengthen value chains, support creative enterprises, and foster ecosystem growth across the continent.
Zara Odu
A multidisciplinary fashion designer from Baffa, a small town in Northern Pakistan. A graduate of Regent's University London with a First-Class Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design, she is an emerging voice in sustainable luxury fashion, blending South Asian and African craftsmanship with contemporary design innovation. In 2022, she co-founded DIJÁGO Studios, a luxury Afro-Asian label inspired by culture, elegance, and artisanal heritage, exploring sustainability, textile innovation, and ethical craftsmanship while empowering artisan communities in Ghana & Pakistan.
Khudija Zaib
Siwa Mgoboza born 1993 in Cape Town is currently completing his final year in a BA Fine Art, majoring in Painting, at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT. Having been raised in abroad for most of his life, the work of Mgoboza deals with the exploration of the globalized African sense of self, a Western upbringing and the liminal space where these identities exist. The work examines the construction of identity and tangled relationship between Africa and the West and their respective histories. Mgoboza describes himself as a ‘post post-colonial’ hybrid, questioning the meaning of culture and national definitions.
Siwa Mgoboza
Johanna von Pezold is a postdoctoral researcher at the China Africa Fashion Power project, based at the University of Amsterdam (https://www.chinaafricafashionpower.org/). With a background in Chinese Studies, Johanna has been conducting ethnographic research on Chinese fashion in Africa for more than nine years. After studying in Hamburg, Rio de Janeiro, Oxford, and Beijing, she graduated with a PhD in Sociology from the University of Hong Kong, examining the creation of fashion in the trade and retail of Chinese-made garments and textiles in Mozambique. She has worked for various think tanks and management consulting firms in Germany, Brazil, and China, and is the first recipient of the CHAT Research Grant, awarded by the Hong Kong Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile. Johanna is especially interested in transnational exchanges of non-Western fashion and material culture, interactions between global commodity production and local consumer cultures, and China's relations to the Lusophone world.
Johanna von Pezold
Founder of Lagos Fashion Week and its parent company, Style House Files, Omoyemi Akerele has been instrumental to the prolific rise of the African fashion industry. A former magazine editor with multiple degrees in Law, Omoyemi established the fashion business development agency, Style House Files, to create opportunities for African designers by spearheading initiatives that promote the advancement of designers and the evolving ecosystem. Since the company’s inception, Omoyemi has advocated for African creatives to be recognized and given the same opportunities as their western counterparts. Her commitment to nurture, develop and promote the African fashion industry led to the establishment of the biannual Lagos Fashion Week, a multi-day platform that presents African designers in Nigeria and beyond. Lagos Fashion Week has also expanded its scope of work, providing advocacy for the industry with government and investors, offering industry master- classes and incubation support for emerging talent and supporting all parts of the fashion industry value-chain to achieve their full potential.
Omoyemi Akerele
Berendje is a designer, independent researcher, educator, and curator with a background in fashion, textiles and education. As a ‘Material Teller’ she explores how clothing mediates and travels between conceptual worlds in diverse cultural, geographic and temporal contexts. Her practice integrates material healing, repair cultures, and decolonial redress, exploring how repair — both material and social — can be a tool for reimagining just and equitable second fashion futures.
Berendje Willemina Valkeman
Nkhensani Mkhari is an artist, curator, writer and digital practitioner working between South Africa and a global context. His practice brings together speculative imaginaries, technology, and the repair of cultural memory, positioning him as a curatorial technologist whose work bridges artistic, cultural, and digital practices. His work is grounded in a philosophy that speculates on the intersection of digital and the spiritual by engaging and mobilising archives, and evolving art and design economies — using sound, image, and extended reality to create participatory stagings that connect material, spatial, and affective forms of repair.
Nkhensani Mkhari
Shaakira was born and raised in South Africa and now lives in the Netherlands. Her previous profession in the architecture/interior field, together with her upbringing in a young democracy plays a role in informing her work. In her latest projects she focuses on ecological resources, architecture, food and society, following an intensive drought in Cape Town between 2015 and 2018. Shaakira secured a B.Sc. in Interior Architecture at the University of Pretoria – South Africa, and later moved abroad to further studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. She now lives and works in the Netherlands.
Shaakira Jassat
Natasja Ambrosio
Laetus Buberwa is the Founder and CEO of KelTex, a materials company developing sustainable leather and textile alternatives from seaweed. His work focuses on creating innovative materials that reduce the environmental impact of conventional textiles while promoting circular and regenerative production systems.
Laetus Buberwa
Kiera Crowe Pettersson
Lumko Mboyi is a conservation leader and sustainability practitioner with more than a decade of experience. Since 2023, Lumko has served as a Director of Conservation Exposure Education and Training. He also serves as a Director and Sustainability Advisor at Fleece Naturally, where he provides strategic guidance on regenerative outcomes, sustainable wool production systems, and communal producer certification processes. In this role, he works closely with communal livestock farmers, conservation organisations, and industry stakeholders to promote regenerative land management practices that enhance ecosystem health, strengthen market access, and improve rural livelihoods.
Lumko Mboyi
Gracey is a 26-year-old Central Saint Martins fashion designer and regenerative farmer. She is the founder of Vallèe Noire and co-founder of DIJÁGO Studios, working at the intersection of regenerative agriculture, textiles, and fashion. Born in Zambia with Ghanaian and Namibian heritage, she pioneers regenerative cotton farming initiatives that support soil health, biodiversity, and transparent fibre supply chains. A recipient of the BFC MA Scholarship and Canada Goose HumaNature Award, Gracey's work explores how African-grown natural fibres can strengthen climate resilience while creating economic opportunities for women and youth. Through agriculture, design, and storytelling, she is reimagining a fashion system that restores ecosystems rather than depletes them.
Gracey Owusu-Agyemang
Marthie Raphael is the CEO of Pep Clothing, the manufacturing division of Pepkor. She leads the company's executive team and is responsible for driving strategic value for Pepkor's retail businesses. Under her leadership, Pep Clothing has received numerous industry accolades, including Manufacturer of the Year and several leadership awards. Marthie began her career in 1993 after completing a four-year Bachelor's degree in Consumer Science at Stellenbosch University. She has extensive experience across the apparel value chain, including managing a manufacturing facility in Malawi, establishing PEP Retail's Quality Assurance Department, and holding leadership roles in business development, logistics, and supply chain management. She plays an active role in advancing local sourcing initiatives within Pepkor and represents the industry through engagement with government, policymakers, and key industry forums. Marthie serves on the Government's R-CTFL Master Plan structures, chairs the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Industry, and is Vice Chair of the South African Apparel Association.
Marthie Raphael
Thandile Zonke (née Chinyavanhu) is a Canon Collins Scholar, published writer, and multidisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of energy security, justice, and sustainability. With a background in Environmental Health and advanced studies in Urban Studies and Sustainable Energy Efficient Cities from the University of the Witwatersrand, she brings technical expertise and critical insight to reimagining cities and systems for a just, sustainable future. She founded FutureMetrix, a consultancy supporting resilience-building and sustainability transitions across sectors. Over six years, Thandile has worked across advocacy, research, and public engagement, translating complex socio-technical systems into accessible narratives that shift hearts and minds. Her grassroots work includes direct involvement in the landmark Sustaining the Wild Coast v Ministers of Mineral and Petroleum Resources case. Drawing on thinkers like Kate Raworth, Thomas Piketty, and Steve Keen, her current research focuses on operationalising energy justice, particularly procedural and distributive equity. In 2022, she was recognised by the Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans and is featured in the Quote This Woman+ expert database.
Thandile Zonke
Simone has more than 15 years of experience advancing sustainable development across Africa, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability and climate action. She is the Director of Africa for The Earthshot Prize, where she works across the continent to identify, support and scale climate solutions with transformative potential. Previously, Simone served as Head of Exploration at the United Nations Development Programme, contributing to a global innovation team dedicated to accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. She began her career in academia, leading projects spanning climate change, the green economy, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian assistance. Simone holds a Master of Management, and her research focused on transformational systems change in response to climate change. She is passionate about scaling solutions that address the climate crisis while advancing inclusive socioeconomic development.
Simone Smit
Henry Kavuma is a biotechnologist and climate activist. He is the Founder and CEO of Living Carbon Capture Dye Solutions, a venture using cyanobacteria to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into sustainable textile bio-dyes, offering a low-carbon alternative to conventional dye manufacturing. His work combines biotechnology with sustainable manufacturing to address global environmental challenges of industrial carbon emissions through scalable, science-driven solutions promoting circularity with regenerative production.
Henry Kavuma
Nuraan Petersen is a Senior Lecturer, practice-led design researcher and educator working at the intersection of fashion, material culture and decolonial design. Her research explores how textiles, dress and adornment carry histories of migration, memory and belonging across the Indian Ocean world, with a particular focus on Cape Malay identity and material heritage in South Africa. Drawing on approaches from visual ethnography, feminist scholarship and Indigenous methodologies, her work examines how clothing can act as a living archive, preserving stories that often sit beyond official histories and museum collections. Alongside her research, Nuraan leads Undergraduate and master's programmes that centres decolonial perspectives in fashion and design innovation, where she is committed to critically engaged learning environments that encourage students to question inherited systems and imagine alternative futures. Born in Cape Town and based in the UK, her work is shaped by diaspora, community and the enduring social life of cloth.
Nuraan Petersen
Lilitha Mahlati-Diatta is the Founder and Executive Director of Ivili Group, a South African industrial group comprising Ivilitex, a clothing manufacturing business, and Ivili Loboya, a natural fibre processing business specialising in wool beneficiation. She is passionate about revitalising Africa's textile and apparel industry through local manufacturing, value addition and globally competitive natural fibre value chains. Lilitha is also a co-founder of the Future Fibres Collective, an industry platform dedicated to advancing innovation, investment and collaboration across Africa's natural fibre ecosystem. She is a regular voice on industrial development, sustainable manufacturing and the opportunities for Africa to capture greater value from its own natural resources.
Lilitha Mahlati-Diatta
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