Nuturing SA designers
GERRY CUPIDO SOUTH African fashion designers have proven time again that they belong at international fashion events. At the beginning of this year, East London-born Lukhanyo Mdingi showcased his Africaninspired collection, Bodyland, at the Autumn/Winter 2022 collection at Paris Fashion Week. Thebe Magugu, winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, unveiled his collection, Banyoloyi A Bosigo, at Paris Fashion Week in 2021. It’s undeniable that there’s an abundance of creative talent in our country. The challenge, however, is to get the world to see more of it. Nkano Senyolo, the founder of IFW Business, is determined to do just that. IFW Business is a company which Nkano Senyolo. assists upcoming and registered South African fashion designers by educating them on how to build their businesses. Senyolo, a fashion design graduate from the faculty of Art Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg who has more than 11 years of experience in the fashion industry, noticed that there was an imbalance in the industry in that African fashion trends was behind, there were a lot of creative designers but not enough exposure, and a lot of talented individuals but most of them lacked business acumen, and the fashion industry in South Africa was underrated. She founded IFW Business and IFW Projects, an NGO, in 2019. Her company objectives include connecting designers with garment construction manufacturers, assisting designers in building a sustainable online business that
NGUNI Brand.
