Zero-Waste Archives

Explainer: How to measure the true cost of your clothes

Do you know how to measure the true cost of your clothes? Read on to learn about Life Cycle Assessments. We’ll be learning about life cycle assessments (LCAs) on the first day of Africa Textile Talks, Tuesday, 29 July. Days...

July 16, 2025

Q&A: Meet Redress Design Award 2025 finalist Casbeth Tshegofatso Marobane

Fashion Features Q&A

Q&A: Meet Redress Design Award 2025 finalist Casbeth Tshegofatso Marobane

South African designer Casbeth Tshegofatso Marobane is one of 10 finalists in the 2025 Redress Design Award. The competition celebrates designers who apply circular design principles by transforming waste textiles into garments. Casbeth holds a BA in Fashion Design from...

June 16, 2025

Explainer: The statistics on why mending is so worthwhile

Explainers Features

Explainer: The statistics on why mending is so worthwhile

For every 5 items repaired, 4 fewer new purchases are made. That means fewer clothes in landfills and fewer sad, abandoned T-shirts. Learn why mending is the ultimate zero-waste power move – and how a few small stitches can make...

March 26, 2025

Easy steps to make your beauty routine more sustainable

Beauty Guides

Easy steps to make your beauty routine more sustainable

Choosing to thrift, upcycle, swap, or shop sustainable brands is an easy way to gradually align our wardrobes with our sustainability ideals. But what about our beauty cupboards? As fast disposable fashion has surged, the world of makeup, skincare and...

October 17, 2024

What to expect at Africa Textile Talks 2024

Features

What to expect at Africa Textile Talks 2024

Africa Textile Talks 2024 is focussed on textile practices that inspire us to imagine and transition to a post-fossil fuel future. Our thoughtfully curated programme introduces attendees to makers and thinkers from South Africa and across the African continent who...

July 29, 2024

Q&A: Harmonie Mbunga celebrates African cloth and culture with UDO & HARMONY

Fashion Features

Q&A: Harmonie Mbunga celebrates African cloth and culture with UDO & HARMONY

Founded by Harmonie Mbunga, luxury fashion brand UDO & HARMONY celebrates African cloth and cultures through refined contemporary design. On her website, Harmonie says, “Our history matters. Our heritage belongs on the world stage, requires a seat at any table...

July 19, 2024

The Waste Guide: Refuse, reuse and recycle

Features Guides

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...

January 9, 2024

The Kitchen & Food Guide: Cook and clean with care

Features Guides

The Kitchen & Food Guide: Cook and clean with care

Reason to care: The kitchen is the hearth of many homes. It’s a space where family and friends gather to share food, connect with each other, tell stories, continue traditions, and build a sense of culinary community. But, the kitchen...

January 9, 2024

Artist Noluthando Lobese upcycles waste to reframe Johannesburg realities

Features

Artist Noluthando Lobese upcycles waste to reframe Johannesburg realities

There’s no such thing as waste without value, not for Noluthando Lobese. The visual artist and set and costume designer sees “waste” materials as toys and as invitations to play and create. Noluthando, also known as “Texture”, is an acclaimed...

November 6, 2023

Rethread Africa turns farm waste into future-fit fabrics

Fashion

Rethread Africa turns farm waste into future-fit fabrics

Some deep breaths you take change you forever. For Charles Oyamo it was inhaling the scent of fertile soil from the lands his parents worked in the villages of Migori County in South West Kenya. “People mostly plant sugar cane...

July 4, 2023

Samkelisiwe Mhlongo-Setshedi: “No machine can replace work done by the human hand”

Fashion

Samkelisiwe Mhlongo-Setshedi: “No machine can replace work done by the human hand”

Growing up between a rural location near the Valley of a Thousand Hills and Hammarsdale, a township west of Durban where books and resources were limited, Samkelisiwe Mhlongo-Setshedi became a maker. Her innate creativity and fascination with design defined her...

June 2, 2023

7 Local brands for an eco-friendly and budget-friendly period

Features

7 Local brands for an eco-friendly and budget-friendly period

Every day 300 million people around the world menstruate for approximately five days in every 28 day cycle. Many South Africans do not have access to or cannot afford to buy sanitary products. According to iMenstruate 83% of girl learners...

May 25, 2023

Why the world fell in love with artist El Anatsui and his quiet critique of global consumption

Features

Why the world fell in love with artist El Anatsui and his quiet critique of global consumption

The artist El Anatsui was born in Ghana and has spent the bulk of his career in Nigeria, but is a citizen of the world. News of a major new installation of his work coming to the prestigious Tate Modern gallery in London...

May 1, 2023

Features

How to Earth Day 2023

This year marks the 53rd anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement, commemorated annually as Earth Day. Since 1970, billions of individuals from more than 190 countries worldwide have come together every April 22nd to take action toward...

April 21, 2023

Fashion

Social impact CMT Tweak Fashion uses textile waste to create sustainable livelihoods

Struck by the heaps of textile waste produced by our fashion industry and the social injustice that leaves many women unemployed Justine Engelbrecht, found a solution by combining fashion with social impact. Situated in East Rand, Johannesburg, Tweak Fashion is...

April 12, 2023

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Tag: Zero-Waste

Explainer: How to measure the true cost of your clothes

Q&A: Meet Redress Design Award 2025 finalist Casbeth Tshegofatso Marobane

Explainer: The statistics on why mending is so worthwhile

Easy steps to make your beauty routine more sustainable

What to expect at Africa Textile Talks 2024

Q&A: Harmonie Mbunga celebrates African cloth and culture with UDO & HARMONY

The Waste Guide: Refuse, reuse and recycle

The Kitchen & Food Guide: Cook and clean with care

Artist Noluthando Lobese upcycles waste to reframe Johannesburg realities

Rethread Africa turns farm waste into future-fit fabrics

Samkelisiwe Mhlongo-Setshedi: “No machine can replace work done by the human hand”

7 Local brands for an eco-friendly and budget-friendly period

Why the world fell in love with artist El Anatsui and his quiet critique of global consumption

How to Earth Day 2023

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