Why South Africa Fashion Week Hit Pause — and What’s Next

Booyzen is working closely with a small team of creative strategists, industry advisors and business consultants to help transform SAFW into a hybrid platform that blends physical and digital experiences. “The new SAFW will move beyond being a single event to becoming a year-round ecosystem,” she says. “It will focus on digital storytelling, designer visibility and meaningful market access — both locally and globally.” The goal is to facilitate that through retail collaborations, art and design crossovers, education, and digital content creation.

Intimacy and connection

News of SAFW’s “strategic pause” sent shockwaves through South Africa’s fashion industry. As one of the oldest and leading fashion weeks, SAFW has attracted a high caliber of local designers over the years, including Thebe Magugu, Lukhanyo Mdingi and Mmusomaxwell. It connects designers to local and regional fashion retailers such as Mr Price, Woolworths and Merchants on Long, as well as local media platforms.

SAFW has also forged important partnerships with leading international fashion weeks. Through its Fashion Bridges — I Ponti della Moda initiative, a bilateral partnership with Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) and the Italian embassy in South Africa, the country’s designers are invited to Milan Fashion Week to showcase their Fall/Winter collections. The exchange also brought Italian designer Andrea Adamo, founder of Andreādamo, to present her collection in Johannesburg last year.

Reactions have been mixed. While fashion critics within South Africa were initially surprised by the news, many point to other international fashion weeks that have struggled; the general sentiment is that the recalibration will lead to something positive.

Johannesburg-based designer Lezanne Viviers, who launched her eponymous brand, Viviers, in 2019 and is a regular name on the SAFW schedule, is among those who agree the format needs a rethink. “I don’t think having a massive collection twice a year is relevant anymore to our brand, or to [other] brands that are aiming to be more sustainable,” she says, adding that this is not only a pain point for South African brands, but for young international designers, too.