South African Fashion Week Student Competition: Shaping the Future of Fashion
Johannesburg, 1st October 2025
South African Fashion Week (SAFW) collaborates with 24 fashion colleges and universities nationwide to host its annual Student Competition for final-year students. Launched in 2006, this prestigious platform is now in its 19th year, identifying and nurturing top talent at the very start of their careers.
With a strong focus on creativity and innovation, the competition became South Africa’s first student design competition to introduce sustainability criteria, aligning with SAFW’s sustainable fashion objectives. Each year, students are challenged to merge originality, craftsmanship, and environmental responsibility, bridging academic training with the realities of the creative fashion design industry.
For the 2025 edition, students were tasked to design a size-34 shirt in 100 % cotton, transformed through techniques such as dyeing, pleating, distressing, or embroidery. Entries were judged on innovation, aesthetics, sustainability, and marketability.
SAFW, in collaboration with Hyde Park Corner, will host the 2025 Student Competition Exhibition in their prestigious Centre Court. Seventeen students will showcase outstanding emerging talent and fresh creative energy shaping the future of South African fashion.
Up to date, the SAFW Student Competition has launched notable careers. Jacques Bam, winner in 2018, was a 2019 New Talent finalist. In 2021, he was part of the Fashion Bridges – I Ponti Della Moda project, a collaboration between the Italian Embassy, SAFW, and Milan Fashion Week and in 2023, he exhibited in Milan through a collaboration with A-Propós, Milan Fashion Week, and SA Fashion Week. In 2024, Lente Lubbinge of STADIO School of Fashion won with a zero-waste draping design, underscoring the event’s commitment to sustainable fashion.
Year after year, the SA Fashion Week continues to nurture emerging designers, giving them industry exposure, professional recognition, and a springboard to local and international opportunities. It stands as a key driver of South Africa’s creative fashion economy, proving that the future of sustainable fashion starts here.
“Hyde Park Corner’s collaboration with SAFW’s Student Competition celebrates the future of fashion empowering young designers with visibility, cultural relevance, and meaningful connections within the world of sustainable fashion.” Sheree McHafffie – Marketing Executive for Hyde Park Corner.
Exhibition Dates: 24 – 28 October 2025
Venue: Hyde Park Corner, Centre Court
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