The Business of Fashion: How SAFW Fueled an Industry
South African Fashion Week has never been just about pretty clothes - it’s been about building a fashion industry. From the start, SAFW emphasised that fashion is a serious business with real economic potential. Over 27 years, it evolved into a powerhouse platform that doesn’t merely showcase style but actively fuels commerce, jobs, and growth. This post explores how SAFW, under the banner of “The Business of Fashion,” transformed the local fashion landscape: nurturing designer brands, forging links with manufacturers and retailers, attracting investment through sponsorships, and championing the idea that a vibrant design culture can drive economic development. It’s a story of fashion-as-enterprise, where creativity meets capitalism in the most stylish way.
By the early 2000s, SAFW was firmly entrenched as “the principal driver of a local fashion culture” – so much so that in 2003 it added “Made in South Africa” to its official positioning. This underscored a commitment to local production and pride in home-grown talent. But an even more telling change came in 2010, when SAFW explicitly rebranded its platform to “The Business of Fashion.” This shift articulated a clear message: beyond glamour, SAFW was about turning design talent into thriving enterprises. As Lucilla Booyzen explained, it was a call for energy to be directed not just at conceptualizing beautiful garments, but at producing, marketing, and selling them as ready-to-wear brands. In other words, SAFW wanted designers to think like entrepreneurs. This focus helped push the industry from cottage-scale endeavors towards more scalable, sustainable businesses.
Practically, how did SAFW fuel the business side? One key way was by creating and continuously improving market access. Since 2001, SAFW ran a parallel trade show where designers could exhibit their collections to buyers and even the public. By 2010 this had evolved into the Buyers’ Lounge, a professional environment for retail buyers and boutique owners to place orders with designers right after shows. This was critical: it closed the loop from runway to revenue. Designers who lit up the catwalk could immediately capitalise on the buzz by securing stockists for their lines. Another avenue was retail partnerships - like the SAFW Designer Capsule at Edgars (2011) which put local labels in a major store. These initiatives tackled the long-standing challenge Booyzen identified: South African designers struggled with distribution and retail presence due to dominance of big chains and high retail rents. SAFW’s interventions provided alternate routes to market, effectively helping designers “hold their own anywhere in the world” by focusing on quality, brand-building and access.
SAFW also understood that investment - both financial and in human capital – was needed to grow the fashion sector. In a country with minimal state funding for fashion, SAFW turned to sponsorships as a lifeline. The platform proved adept at attracting corporate partners (from beauty brands to banks), by offering them exciting competitions and events to align with. By packaging competitions (like the New Talent Search, Scouting Menswear Competition, etc.) with media buzz, SAFW secured crucial sponsorship revenue that, in turn, funded industry development programs. Sponsors benefited from the publicity, while designers benefited from prizes, mentorship, and the exposure these sponsored projects provided. It was a win-win that injected money and excitement into the fashion calendar.
Crucially, SAFW didn’t just funnel money; it fostered professionalism. It set high standards for production – lights, sound, staging – comparable to international fashion weeks, ensuring local designers could present in world-class conditions and learn to meet those standards. Recognizing gaps in skills (like production management, costing, etc.), SAFW introduced business seminars and workshops (more on that in our Education post) to raise designers’ acumen as business owners. Additionally, SAFW facilitated collaborative networks: linking designers with local textile producers, crafters (through the Fashion Fusion project), and even international buyers (via exchange programs). By strengthening each link of the value chain - from fabric to final consumer - SAFW actively worked to overcome structural challenges in the industry. It essentially positioned itself as a backbone infrastructure for fashion start-ups, providing what individual designers alone could not easily access.
The impact of these efforts is evident in the growth of the sector. Today, dozens of SAFW alumni run successful labels employing staff, and “Made in South Africa” collections are sold locally and overseas. SAFW helped popularise the notion that fashion can be a viable career and an economic contributor – not a fringe artistic pursuit. By one estimate, the fashion and apparel sector in SA became a multi-billion rand industry, with SAFW’s network of designers playing a significant role. While challenges remain (manufacturing capacity, competition from imports, etc.), SAFW’s relentless focus on business viability means designers are more prepared than ever to tackle them. They’ve learned to diversify income streams (bridal lines, collaborations, online sales), to negotiate with suppliers, and to market themselves – many of these lessons tracing back to SAFW initiatives.
In championing “The Business of Fashion,” SA Fashion Week validated the notion that fashion matters for economic development. It proved that creativity and commerce are two sides of the same coin, and that nurturing talent must go hand-in-hand with building markets. The legacy after 21 years is a more mature, resilient industry – one that balances artistry with entrepreneurship. As SAFW continues forward, it remains an essential catalyst for growth, reminding all stakeholders (from government to investors to consumers) that supporting local fashion is an investment in jobs, culture, and the very fabric of South Africa’s economy. Fashion is not just about looking good; thanks to SAFW, it’s about doing good business, too.
