SA Fashion Week Launches New Talent Search 2019

“This is an incredibly exciting brief, providing a platform for creative curiosity and we encourage the entrants to consider all aspects of sustainability and what that means.”  

- Lucilla Booyzen, SAFW Founder and CEO

SA Fashion Week’s (SAFW) New Talent Search is days away to discovering our country’s most talented future fashion designer.  Established in 1998, this search is an opportunity to secure long-term growth for the designers who enter.

For over two decades, the SA Fashion Week New Talent Search has been revered as South Africa’s most prestigious fashion competition.  Since its inception, it has launched the careers of many of our country’s most successful designers, some of whom include Black Coffee, David Tlale, MMUSOMAXWELL and more recent, Cindy Mfabe.

It’s a well-established fact that the most challenging period of a designer’s career is between 5-10 years of the growth of their brand.  Faced with a diverse range of challenges, and in the face of a rapidly changing industry, this period is considered ‘make or break’.

The SA Fashion Week New Talent Search seeks to find those designers who have already succeeded in achieving certain criteria, the latter which includes locally-based womenswear businesses who supply a minimum of one store (their own, another or online) and have been in business for ten years or less.  

Entering this competition provides both the winner, in addition to the finalists, an integral entry into sought-after contact and relationship-building opportunities with media, buyers and new clients.

Designers are selected, by a panel of industry-leaders, on their design talent, ability to follow the brief and their capacity to supply more stores in the future.  The prize is valued at over R60 000-00 and includes representation for a year by The Fashion Agent and the amazing opportunity to show at the SAFW SS21 Collections.

The brief for this year is Shaping the future of Sustainable Fashion.  Open to diverse interpretation, the sustainability of fashion’s future is a vital issue that needs addressing to ensure that the planet is protected for future generations.

Lucilla Booyzen, SAFW Founder and CEO, shared that “There’s no formal definition of sustainable fashion, and sustainability and ethics can apply to many different aspects of a fashion business.  Without doubt, sustainable fashion brands are the future of our industry.”

The brief, process and all entry details can be found on SAFW website.  Registration must take place online before 5pm on the 16 July 2019.  To enter, and for more information, please visit http:www.safashionweek.co.za1

Should you experience any technical difficulties, please contact Jo-Leen on the contact details below:

(T) 011 442 7812

(E) info@safashionweek.co.za

Entrants should conduct extensive research to ensure an understanding of the role sustainable fashion can play in shaping the future.  Designers should take into consideration 2020 world trends, combining their personal inspiration and talent with contemporary shapes, styles and construction. 

- SA Fashion Week