Explainer: Floods, farms and fashion
Find out how the storms in South Africa reveal the connection between climate change, agriculture and the clothes we wear
Tag: recycle
Explainer: Beautiful, low-waste wrapping
Our tips for planet-conscious gift wrapping.
Africa Textile Talks Day 1: Circular solutions for South Africa’s textile industry
From life cycle assessments to textile recycling and policy reform, Day 1 of Africa Textile Talks 2025 examines how circularity could reshape South Africa’s fashion and textile industry.
The Waste Guide: Refuse, reuse and recycle
Reason to care: Waste has become the symptom and symbol of our linear capitalistic economic system that prioritises overproduction and overconsumption. Convenience has become a key to maintaining our fast-paced lives. But, the waste we create in pursuit of convenience...
Fashion innovator recycles fish waste into leather products
When Newton Owino looked at the daily fish waste along his community beach, he thought he’d do something about it. Now the fashion innovator has a customer base on three continents. bird story agency Walking along the shores of Lake...
PETCO Awards 2022 celebrates South Africa’s everyday environmental heroes
In a world where overproduction and overconsumption are normalised, waste has become a social and environmental concern. One of challenges is the lack of landfill capacity in South Africa. GreenCape’s latest study found that 22 out of 25 of the municipalities...
What “biodegradable”, “dissolvable” and “compostable” really mean
By now, you would have noticed an increase in light plastic-like carrier bags on supermarket shelves. Most conventional light plastic packaging – for groceries, dry cleaning, bread, frozen food bags, newspapers, and garbage – is low-density polyethylene (LDPE), made from...
How Ackermans turns its fashion waste into building blocks
We all know fashion’s waste problem which is creating environmental problems. Now working towards a better future, Ackermans has launched an innovative solution to its fashion textile waste. Along with Wastecrete, the popular South African clothing brand has produced a...
Q&A with Bhungane Mehlomakhulu. You’ve seen the image. Now meet the maker.
Originally from Sebokeng zone 14 in Gauteng, 23-year-old Bhungane Mehlomakhulu is both a fashion designer and a professional ballet dancer – he dances by day and sews by night. “I’m like Hannah Montana,” says Bhungane. To find out more about...
Our Workshop refashions gently worn clothes from Vintage with Love
For the last couple of months, the Our Workshop team has been stitching together a collaborative refashioning project. Our Workshop was an obvious fit for Vintage with Love which needs a solution for donated second-hand clothes that are slightly too worn...
Repair what you wear
We know the devastation that comes when a piece of clothing you’ve loved is damaged. While this might mean the end of the items’ life, it doesn’t have to be. By mending it, you can instead give it another life....
Q&A: Sipho Mbuto says a beautiful garment should not destroy our planet
Sipho Mbuto showed his upcycled Dlala SS21 collection at SA Fashion Week on Thursday evening. Inspired by the tenacity of children who create toys with found objects, he has refashioned secondhand denim jeans. The can’t-miss labels offer the background to...
Q&A: Alexa Schempers uses waste as resource to create Rethread
This founder tells us the hard truths about creating sustainable fashion, and the importance of persisting
Vanessa Nsona is designing a circular future for Malawi
Vanessa Nsona collects waste, tinkers and toys, prototypes and makes new products. Circular thinking is central to her work in Malawi. “I have always thought of waste as treasure,” she says. I spent a day with Vanessa, visiting her workshop,...
Q&A: At Mors Design old tyre tubes are turned into bags
In 2015, Cape Town-based Raihana Govender co-founded Mors Design, an up-cycle initiative specialising in manufacturing bags made from recycled tyre tubes. When she met a designer who had made a bag out of old tyre tubing, she says, “I was...