WeeklySA_AdminNEW LEASE: Craig Jacobs’ Fundudzi collection draws on Southern Africa’s landscapes to reimagine surplus and pre-owned garments…
By WSAM Reporter
Clothes once destined for the discard pile found new life on the South African Fashion Week runway as designer Craig Jacobs unveiled a collection that turns fashion’s excess into an opportunity for reinvention.
Presented at Hyde Park Corner Shopping Centre, The New Earth, Fundudzi by Craig Jacobs’ transeasonal 2026/27 collection, draws on pre-owned, surplus and discarded clothing to explore the possibilities of reworked fashion.
Jacobs said the collection began with garments that might otherwise have been overlooked.
“Rather than treating existing garments as the end of their useful life, we worked through a process of dismantling and reconstructing what others, mostly in the West, discard to explore new possibilities in materials that might otherwise be overlooked,” he said.
Inspired by Southern Africa’s geological landscapes, The New Earth takes its palette from the muted colours of earth, stone and weathered terrain. Tailoring, denim, knitwear and sheer layers move between wearable everyday pieces and more expressive silhouettes.
Jacobs founded Fundudzi in 2004 with a commitment to telling African stories through cloth in an ecologically sensitive way. His latest collection continues that approach while questioning a fashion system driven by constant production and consumption.
From fast fashion to luxury, the pressure for the new can leave little room for the longevity of clothing. Jacobs’ collection offers one creative response: looking again at the garments and materials already in circulation.
Parts of the collection were produced at Ananse Studios Johannesburg in Rosebank’s Design District. The project was supported by a donation from television producer and creative industries patron Alan Ford, while official accessory partner Luxity supplied the footwear.
