Up-Fuse is a social enterprise founded in 2015 by Yara Yassin, Rania Rafie and Lama El Khawanky. The organisation operates from Cairo's Garbage City, a slum settlement on the capital's outskirts,...
Features
Superfine reveals the revolutionary power of tailoring
The 2025 Met Gala honoured Black designers and the invisible art of tailoring with quiet power and elegance. Informed by the exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, the event reminded us how fashion—especially when shaped by history and restraint—can be a radical act of resistance, creativity, and cultural pride.
Explainer: The Met Gala debrief
This year’s Met Gala theme centred on Superfine: Tailoring Black Style − an exhibition exploring 300 years of Black dandyism, resistance, and identity through fashion. With a menswear-focused dress...
Q&A with founders of new African luxury fashion rental platform R’Frique
Luxury redefined: R’Frique is making high-end African fashion more accessible and sustainable—one rental at a time. In this Q&A, founders Ceejay Ndlovu and Lebi Barfour-Osei share how their platform champions slow fashion, celebrates African design, and challenges the norms of ownership.
Should you give handouts at traffic lights? A view from the street
My name is Chantel Sampson. I was a homeless person for six years. I lived at the foot of Table Mountain from 2018 onwards. You probably walked past me if you visited Van Riebeeck Park in Vredehoek....
Your go-to guide to thrift stores in South Africa
Thrifting can be a wonderful way of shopping sustainably and affordably while finding one-of-a-kind gems. However, as the popularity of thrifting rises, so too do the prices of these once-cheap...
Explainer: Old is the new new
Old is in — and the resale market is booming. Luxury bags are flying off virtual shelves in seconds, and Gen Z are factoring resale value into every purchase. But is resale really slow fashion, or...
Writing letters to the future unlocks powerful visioning
Through letters to the future and a collective artmaking journey, And Yet We Imagine invites us to plant new seeds of hope, compost outdated ideas, and dream beyond the limits of today’s world.
After Library of wearable narratives
“These garments hold you, like they’ve held others before you.” Thulile Gamedze’s After Library invites us to wear memory, history, and meaning.
Book reviews: Earth Day advice on how to lighten your footprint
Figuring out how to lighten your footprint and reduce your carbon emissions is overwhelming. Firstly, it feels too hard − we live in complex and intersecting social, economic and political systems...
3 ways Pope Francis influenced the global climate movement
Pope Francis was a very progressive climate leader, taking the Catholic Church forward in how it thinks about climate and how climate change affects marginalised people the most. He wrote recommendations on how to change behaviour and policy.
Explainer: Colours to dye for
Cherry red, lavender blue, lime… We all want to wear the AW25 colours − but at what cost? Anyone who has watched the 2006 film about high-fashion publishing, The Devil Wears Prada, will know about...
Can the leather industry be sustainable? I visited Mossop Leather to find out.
Is leather sustainable? There is no clear-cut answer. On one hand as a by-product of the meat industry, it’s a practical, durable, creative, and stylish way to reduce waste. On the other hand, the...
Explainer: What circularity means for a fashion system
Right now, the fashion system follows a linear path: take, make, waste. This system needs to change by closing the loop instead, and making it circular? South Africa has the potential to build a...
Meet the fixer: Catherine Malherbe is a ceramics restoration artist
Meet the fixer is a new series highlighting businesses or individuals who play a role in the circular economy by repairing and restoring the items we already own. As a salve to throwaway culture,...