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

Fashion weeks are a vital platform for showcasing collections to buyers, press and critics alike. For many designers, they serve as an important marketing and sales channel. However, in South Africa, organizers say the traditional fashion week model has become too divorced from the realities of making and selling fashion today.

Last month, South Africa Fashion Week (SAFW) announced it was taking a “strategic pause to recalibrate and reshape its future”, with plans to unveil a new direction in January 2026. While details are still being worked out, founder and director Lucilla Booyzen says there will be a “360-degree digital rollout, followed by a combination of live and digital shows, digital marketing and storytelling from April 23, 2026”.

“After 28 years of shaping the South African designer fashion industry, I began to notice a gradual but unmistakable shift in how fashion operates,” Booyzen tells Vogue Business. “Instability in the supply chain has made fabric sourcing unsustainable, unpredictable and costly. Production costs have increased, while opportunities for visibility and retail presence for designer-led brands have reduced. The old approach — staging two large seasonal shows — has become unsustainable and misaligned with these new realities.”

She explains that, after the Covid pandemic, many designers in South Africa carved out their own retail opportunities and began selling garments direct-to-consumer (DTC) via social media platforms such as Instagram and Whatsapp. “The old [fashion week] model was built for a world that moved at a different pace and operated within a very different structure,” Booyzen says. “Over the past few years, it became clear that for SAFW to continue leading and serving the industry, it needed to evolve.”

It’s not the first time a regional fashion week has been put on hiatus while its organizers reassessed. Stockholm Fashion Week was cancelled — primarily on financial grounds — in July 2019. It returned this year, buoyed by fresh government funding, though its schedule was relatively lean.

Finding the right sponsors has been an ongoing challenge for SAFW. “South African Fashion Week is not funded or supported by the government or any institution,” Booyzen says. “We rely on corporate sponsorship, which is a constant challenge in a space overwhelmingly dominated by sport when it comes to sponsorship spend.”

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.

The industry needs to move toward producing capsule collections or focusing on signature styles rather than chasing trends, Viviers adds. “I think that idea [is] more in line with the new vision as to how the industry could operate — making things to measure, or going back to a more couture, salon-style approach.” Viviers notes that her clients are craving imitancy and connection. This means holding intimate gatherings with top clients, buyers and press, with the opportunity to interact one-on-one with the designer.

Proponents argue that fashion week still has an important role in South Africa. “I believe the runway format has a role to play for designers who are building a following and finding their markets. A fashion week can be a powerful platform to help create a following,” says Jackie May, founder and director of Twyg, a non-profit media and events platform based in Cape Town. “Fashion weeks are third spaces; places where communities find each other and network.”

Booyzen says she is in “active dialogue” with designers and listening to their feedback. She also hopes to engage the wider industry. “To make this shift successful, we need a shared commitment from the industry,” says Booyzen. “That means local retailers’ [forming] long-term commitment to opening space for South African design, media continuing to spotlight authentic talent, sponsors investing not just in visibility but in impact, and global partners recognizing the strength of South African creativity.”

Booyzen emphasizes that this is not the death of SAFW. “It’s an evolution,” she says. “This next chapter is about ensuring that it thrives in a world that looks very different from when we began 28 years ago.”