4 WOMEN IN SUSTAINABLE FASHION DESIGN

THOBILE MAZIBUKO

This Women’s Month, we celebrate four female designers who are into sustainable fashion. They produce magnificent garments while looking out for the environment.

LARA KLAWIKOWSKI

The Cape Town-based designer is one of the best when it comes to sustainability. Her eponymous label that focuses on avant-garde design is famous for producing stunning garments made from recycled materials, especially plastics.

In 2020, she won the Innovative Design and Materials Award. She also won the coveted Changemaker Award at the TWYG x Country Road Sustainable Fashion Awards 2020. Early this year, she showcased her designs at the Sandton City Sustainable Exhibition.

A DRESS by Lara Klawikowsi dress

HANGWANI NENGOVHELA

The founder of Rubicon never disappoints when it comes to sophisticated designs. In most of her collections, she celebrates African heritage. In 2015, she won the Mbokodo Awards for fashion design and innovation. This year, she celebrates 16 years of being in the fashion industry and has launched the ‘Myth Re-imagined’ collection inspired by the fashion trends from the great historical Mapungubwe Kingdom in Limpopo.” It is well known that the Mapungubwe Kingdom was a bustling nation whose people lived in abundance. To show their strength and power, the Mapungubwe’s ruler moved the upper classes to the top of a hill while the working classes remained on level ground. We have included that concept in our latest work. Translating the different levels of authority into fashion, our garments showcase various layers of fabrics while depicting movement throughout the collection,” she said.

SINDISO KHUMALO

Also based in Cape Town, Khumalo is known for sustainable textile designs. Inspired by her Zulu and Ndebele heritage, her designs are about telling the African story. She won Vogue Italia “Who’s On Next Dubai” competition in 2016 and was one of the speakers at the United Nations on sustainability in fashion. She has exhibited her work at Royal Festival Hall in London, The Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, Louisiana Museum in Denmark and the Zeitz Mocaa Museum, Cape Town. She was also a finalist for the LVMII Prize last year, which was shared by the designers.

A DRESS by Sindiso Khumalo.

LEZANNE VIVIERS

Viviers is famous for limited edition garments. She does that to avoid the production of ‘Dead-Stock’. As a brand that prides itself on sustainability, Vivers usually repurposes materials to create unique designs. “We source the majority of our fabrics from warehouses that have been sitting with dead-stock from the ‘70s. These old materials were made with integrity and did not form part of the current consumer-greed has driven fashion industry as we know it today. The quality of the fabrics are exceptional and made to last. These form the base of our materials which we then print or re-work to update them,” said Viviers.

TWO-PIECE designed by Lezanne Viviers.

BASETSANA Kumalo wearing a Rubicon dress.