10 Fashion trends for 2026
Fashion trend reports are usually about colour, shape and mood. This one is not.
Tag: Natural Fibres
Beneath Karoo Skies: A sensory homage to South African wool
Set in an old sheep shearing shed, Wool World: Beneath Karoo Skies reimagined the space as a sanctuary of tactile beauty and unfolded through four sections that reflect the cyclical rhythm of nature. The rawness of the shed became part...
Explainer: Your clothes contain more plastic than you think
Even garments labeled “100% cotton” are often held together with polyester thread – making it impossible to avoid plastic in our clothing. Almost all your clothes contain plastic – even ones labeled “100% cotton”. Learn how this hidden plastic affects...
Explore the roots of Stephanie Bentum’s textile art
Much like unravelling a woolen jersey, it’s hard to say where creativity begins and ends. For Stephanie Bentum, the textile designer and maker behind some of South Africa’s most revered sustainable fashion collections, the origins of her creative practice can...
Green your fashion with GOTS
In an ideal world, all fashion and textiles should have positive impacts on people and planet. The production of fibres and fabrics should not harm soil health, water, biodiversity, and people. Instead, the reality is that textile production continues to...
Microplastics are in our brains. How worried should I be?
Plastic is in our clothes, cars, mobile phones, water bottles and food containers. But recent research adds to growing concerns about the impact of tiny plastic fragments on our health. A study from the United States has, for the first time, found...
New collaboration brings the farm to your wardrobe in local, ethical production process
POLO South Africa has collaborated with Gerber & Co to produce their first ever 100% locally produced and manufactured mens’ knitwear collection made of South African merino wool. The fashion brand’s creative director Alia Peer says that the collaboration with...
What do coffee and seaweed have in common? They outshine cotton in sustainable fashion
Ever considered the carbon footprint of manufacturing your favourite cotton shirt? The average cotton shirt produces 2.1 kilograms of carbon dioxide – but a polyester shirt produces over twice as much (5.5 kilograms). It might come as no surprise that...
Wool swimsuits used to be standard beachwear – is it time to bring them back?
Wool swimsuits, popular a century ago, might soon make a splash on beaches again. In the 19th century, when natural fibres were the only option, beach-goers donned costumes made of wool or cotton. Swimsuits worn at the water’s edge or...
Q&A: Gugu Peteni of GUGUBYGUGU says African design is innovative and global
GUGUBYGUGU, a South African fashion brand based in Gqeberha, is unapologetic, bold, genderless, and experimental. “Fashion to me means a host of things – it’s about identity, it’s feeling, it’s an expression, and yet at the same time it’s just...
Alpaca farmers fashion noble fibre into quality garments
An in-flight magazine first sparked Christopher and Alison Notley’s interest in the “noble and aristocratic” alpaca. It’s an interest which took them farming in the Western Cape in 2004. The couple now run a vertically integrated farm-to-fashion business on their...
Notes to nature
Leandi Mulder is a designer with a deep understanding of natural fibres and textiles. Her MA Fashion graduate collection Notes to nature is an expression of this and acts as a love letter to the ever-changing constant that is nature....
Artist Gina van der Ploeg merges touch and textiles with tending to the land
“We wouldn’t have textiles without agriculture,” says Cape Town-based fibre artist and farmer, Gina van der Ploeg, “And what I love about textiles is that everyone has a connection with them.” From the clothing we wear to the textiles that...
6 Textile certifications to look for when buying natural fibres in South Africa
Natural fibres are renewable and biodegradable, which makes them preferred textiles for a circular fashion industry. But, while natural fibres are inherently more sustainable, it does not always mean that the process of farming and processing them is ethical and...
11 Local makers working with South African wool
South African wool, specifically locally grown, regeneratively farmed wool, is key to the revival of the textile industry and to building a sustainable, ethical and regenerative fashion system. Wool is a renewable, regenerative, biodegradable natural fibre. Unlike synthetic fibres, it...