Wacy Zacarias | Innovation and new narratives in African textiles manufacturing
Wacy Zacarias, co-founder of Karingana Textiles, shares her exploration with textiles as a vessel for healing, spirituality, and cultural memory. Drawing on indigenous knowledge and her journey as both a designer and healer, she reflects on working with medicinal plants, natural dyes, and rural communities in Mozambique to create cloth that carries intention. Wacy discusses how we can reimagine textiles as more than functional, but as tools for connection, protection, and wellbeing.
Transforming invasive plants into beautiful crafts | Boitumelo Mphahlele
Founder of Thekga Movement, Boitumelo Mphahlele works with ecological materials, transforming invasive water hyacinth into woven fibre. Her practice connects environmental restoration with craft, creating sculptural textiles rooted in collaboration and cultural memory.
Battle of Fibres - Cotton? Wool? Choose the right textile for your fashion future
From kelp to cotton – Tertius Schoeman and Samkelo Boyde Xaba discuss the sustainability of fashion fabrics.
Matthew van Lingen | The land remembers: Regenerative farming and wool production
Matthew van Lingen, a sixth-generation sheep farmer from the Karoo, shares how regenerative farming practices are reshaping the wool industry from the ground up. Challenging the idea that sustainability starts in factories or fashion houses, he explains how careful grazing, ecosystem restoration, and animal wellbeing are deeply interconnected.
Panel | Opportunities for a greener future for textile manufacturing in Africa
Irshaad Kathrada leads this discussion with Lilitha Mahlati, Imraan Bux, Dax Holding, and Courtney Barnes. The group reflect on what manufacturing really means in the clothing and textile industry – not just production, but the process of adding value across a long, interconnected chain from fibre to finished garment.
Panel | Wool and its inherent versatility and sustainability for design and innovation
Lezanne Viviers, Ronel Jordaan, Roxanne Maddocks, and Jana Vermaas explore wool’s versatility as a material for both tradition and innovation, from handcraft practices to emerging applications in medical textiles, bio-resins, and natural dyeing. They reflect on the challenges facing the local industry – from limited infrastructure to gaps in education – while highlighting the importance of collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and community-led production in building a more resilient and globally relevant South African wool sector.
Wacy Zacarias | Innovation and new narratives in African textiles manufacturing
Wacy Zacarias, co-founder of Karingana Textiles, shares her exploration with textiles as a vessel for healing, spirituality, and cultural memory. Drawing on indigenous knowledge and her journey as both a designer and healer, she reflects on working with medicinal plants, natural dyes, and rural communities in Mozambique to create cloth that carries intention. Wacy discusses how we can reimagine textiles as more than functional, but as tools for connection, protection, and wellbeing.
Danayi Madondo | Decentralised fashion manufacturing
Zimbabwean designer Danayi Madondo, founder of Haus of Stone, shares her journey of building a slow fashion brand rooted in collaboration, craftsmanship, and community. She reflects on what it means to create luxury from limitation, using waste materials, local weavers, and intuitive design to tell contemporary African stories through cloth.
Leandi Mulder | Spotlight on education and skills development in natural fibres
Fashion designer and educator Leandi Mulder shares her journey from discovering forgotten looms in a university storeroom to shaping a new approach to fashion education in South Africa. In this talk, she reflects on the power of mohair and wool, the importance of textile literacy, and why reconnecting design with fibre origin is essential for a more sustainable industry.
Roan Snyman | Building a circularity initiative for clothing and textiles in South Africa
Roan Snyman of GreenCape shares the early thinking behind a collaborative circularity initiative for South Africa’s clothing and textile sector, driving sustainability while unlocking job creation and investment. Drawing on insights from workshops and interviews across the value chain, he highlights key challenges – from regulatory complexity and funding constraints to limited coordination between stakeholders – and outlines a shared, locally focused approach to building a more connected circular system.
Panel | Sustainable farming in South Africa for global sustainable fashion
Caroline Nelson, Pavs Pillay, and Matthew van Lingen explore a regenerative farming initiative in South Africa’s Drakensberg wetlands, developed in partnership with WWF and H&M, to support more sustainable wool production. They discuss how practices like regenerative grazing, invasive species removal, and farmer collaboration can restore biodiversity, improve water systems, and strengthen livelihoods – showing how environmental, social, and economic sustainability can work together in the global fashion supply chain.
Dr Philippa Notten | Lifecycle Assessment
What does it really mean to measure the impact of fashion from fibre to finished garment, and beyond? In this talk, Dr Philippa Notten from The Green House unpacks life cycle assessment (LCA) and the fascinating insights it can bring when designing circular solutions for textiles.
Yayra Agbofah | Fighting fashion waste in Kantamanto Market
In this episode, we hear from Yayra Agbofah, founder of The Revival and winner of the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award. From Accra’s Kantamanto Market, he’s taking on the influx of secondhand clothing waste arriving from the global north.
Maria Caley | Namibian indigenous aesthetic politics in textiles
Maria Caley, a lecturer at the University of Namibia, presents at the 2025 Africa Textile Talks. From leather to trade cloth: Namibian indigenous aesthetic politics in textiles
Tariffs and the South African (fashion) economy with Irshaad Kathrada.
With the global economy currently very unsettled by the USA’s new and ever-changing tariffs strategy, we will discuss the role tariffs play in global trade, manufacturing & retail, and what they mean for the clothing and textile industry in South Africa.