Sometimes Thabo Makhetha-Kwinana likes to take a long peek inside her mother’s closets. Those spaces hold stories of tradition and custom upheld in cloth; also reminders that her own history and heritage run through each thread.

“When I look at some of those outfits I can say ‘oh, yes that was what my mother wore to so and so’s wedding’ or I remember that time when the women in my family all wore red pom-pom shoeshoe [shweshwe] skirts for a special family gathering. I remember my wedding ceremony. On the morning I left my family home, all the women gathered. They were dressed in similar outfits with Basotho blankets over their shoulders. They stood behind me, as my family, my tribe –  they literally had my back,” says the Lesotho-born, Cape Town-based designer who has taken her brand, Thabo Makthetha, to the world.

Over the past 14 years, Thabo’s collections and homeware textiles have grown to be a celebrated nod to Basotho culture reimagined as contemporary, high-end fashion and home décor pieces. Her fan base is global and her success has come with high acclaim and awards.

“It’s been a journey,” says Thabo, as she thinks back to how it started when she caused a stir at the Durban July in 2011. The theme was “Royalty” and the outfit she designed and wore was made out of Basotho blankets that hold the motifs of the kingdom she grew up in. She turned being the racecourse sensation that winter to fulfilling the sudden rush of orders that arrived.  It was then that Thabo set out to claim her unique positioning in a crowded fashion industry.

Thabo knew from the start she wanted culture and heritage to be her signature but also wanted to have wide appeal and not to be inward looking. But building a business in this industry has come with learning curves and unforeseen challenges. Thabo has had to ward off cheap, mass-produced knock-offs flooding the market and see international brands like Louis Vuitton bring out Basotho blanket-styled collections that left her feeling like her pioneering ideas had been hijacked.

Despite this, Thabo keeps looking to the future. For her, this means sharpening her focus on the values of her brand. Sustainability tops her list of priorities. For Thabo, sustainability is about what endures and why that matters. It comes against a backdrop of fashion being fast and unforgettable today. Relationships to the material world are fleeting, devoid of deeper meaning or resonance.

“I can’t stand waste so I don’t throw anything away. Dealing with waste is the starting point of sustainability in our processes. Our cushions and apron ranges came about because I wanted to make use of the denim cloth that we were given and off-cuts from Basotho blankets and shoeshoe cloth. Our packaging is simple but beautiful so it can be reused in different ways. I’ve made peace with being called a hoarder, because now I know it’s part of my creative process,” Thabo says.

Sustainability is evident in the craftsmanship of the clothes, in the versatility of classic styles and in the layering potential for seasonality. For instance, Thabo says a coat can last for years – even generations, be styled with wardrobe staples and be adapted with changing weather patterns.

Ultimately, Thabo says, sustainability must reinforce heritage, and value the idea of “finding your tribe”. Now that she and her husband Kevin Kwinana have two children, she is even more starkly confronted about how easily heritage can be lost, also how traditions can be distorted.

Her 2023 residency and exhibition at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town in Cape Town helped Thabo build a bridge to close these divides and to own her narrative. Thabo is the first fashion designer to be in residence at the museum. A centrepiece featured one of her trademark coats, but it could only be viewed via augmented reality. By scanning a QR code the piece emerged into the space in a full 3D version of what she created.

“My seven-year old is always fighting for my phone. So a digital installation is a bridge between his generation and the people who have come before him. And, I get to tell him my story,” she says.

During her residency, Thabo focused on process which translates as “nurturing my tribe”. It’s about strengthening personal support structures and the meaning of community. “Finding your own tribe is finding like-minded people who are not necessarily your family members, not necessarily someone who looks like you, or someone who speaks your language but it’s people with whom you know you can build a future and find solutions,” she says.

For the longest time, the journey of building her brand and her business has been marked by Kevin at her side. Today he has an advisory position in Thabo’s business. Thabo recalls the days when they were both students with fresh, unknown futures ahead of them. “He’d fall asleep on the couch waiting for me because I would work till 4am to finish up an order. His background is in engineering but we are still fascinated by each other’s worlds,” she says.

The couple share a work-from-home space.  Unexpectedly, she’s a tidy creative. She says – with a laugh – that she threatens to ban Kevin from the house for his messy habits. But it works because this relationship of love and of family is what adds to her sustainability.

The day I leave this earth I want to know I didn’t just make beautiful clothes, I want to have created the things that stand for so much more

The meaning of a creative life and the making of a brand and a business always has a back story, and if you’re very lucky, also a heart story. Thabo’s does. She sums it up when she says: “The day I leave this earth I want to know I didn’t just make beautiful clothes, I want to have created the things that stand for so much more.”

• Images supplied by Thabo Makhetha. The first three images depict the final exhibition of her residency at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. The last two images are of Thabo and Kevin, and the couple with their children