Twenty years after winning the SAFW New Talent Search, David Tlale returns to the platform where his fashion journey began. His homecoming highlights South African Fashion Week’s continued investment in emerging designers, student talent and the business skills needed to build sustainable fashion careers.
JOHANNESBURG, October 2026 — Every established designer has a beginning. For David Tlale, that beginning was South African Fashion Week (SAFW). Now, two decades after winning its New Talent Search, the celebrated designer is returning to the platform where his journey took shape, opening the AW27 Collections this month.
His return represents more than a runway moment. It connects a designer’s early breakthrough with the next generation of South African fashion talent working to turn creativity into a career.
That journey sits at the heart of SAFW’s designer-development programmes. Through its New Talent Search, established in 1998, and Student Competition, launched in 2019, SAFW supports designers at two important stages: developing their creative skills and building commercially viable fashion businesses.
David Tlale’s return brings the journey full circle
Tlale’s story reflects the long-term potential of platforms that give emerging designers an opportunity to be seen. Previous New Talent Search winners and finalists include Artho Eksteen, David Tlale, Erre, Jacques Bam, Lukhanyo Mdingi, Mmuso Maxwell and Sipho Mbuto.
Their journeys demonstrate the range of opportunities that can follow early recognition. According to SAFW, alumni have gone on to establish fashion businesses, serve retail and private clients, and contribute to the broader industry.
For Tlale, returning to SAFW for the AW27 Collections brings his story back to where it began. For the designers coming through the programmes today, it offers a clear connection between emerging talent and the professional fashion landscape they hope to enter.
“The central goal is to become a designer whose work is bought, produced, delivered and bought again. Everything these programmes do is built around getting someone to that point,” says Lucilla Booyzen, founder of South African Fashion Week.
The message is clear: creative talent matters, but the ability to produce work that reaches customers is equally important.
New Talent Search puts emerging menswear designers in focus
The SAFW New Talent Search Powered by J.C. Le Roux supports early-stage menswear designers as they develop original collections with cultural expression, responsible considerations and commercial potential.
The programme challenges participants to balance their creative identity with sustainable practice and market readiness. This year’s five participating designers are ZOUR, Martin John Steenkamp, Blackfaces Apparel, Ntwana and Michael Peter Reid.
Their work will be assessed by a judging panel that brings together experience from across fashion media, sustainability, buying, retail, designer development and commercial strategy.
The panel includes Jackie May, founder of Twyg; Sumendra Chetty; Chris Makhanya; and renowned designer Thula Sindi.
Together, these perspectives reflect the different considerations involved in taking a fashion concept beyond the design stage and towards a collection with commercial potential.
The white shirt becomes a test of student creativity
While the New Talent Search supports emerging designers, the SAFW Student Competition introduces fashion students to professional platforms while they are still in training.
For AW27, students were challenged to reimagine the white shirt using 100% cotton. Although the brief centres on a familiar wardrobe staple, its simplicity places the focus on the details that shape a garment: construction, cut, finish and technique.
The 2026 semi-finalists represent six fashion schools across South Africa. Their fourteen designs explore a broad range of ideas, including architectural shaping, anatomical references, reuse, zero-waste construction, heritage and the natural world.
The challenge gives students an opportunity to interpret a shared brief through their own design perspectives while demonstrating their technical skills.
Judging the Student Competition are Sahil Harilal, whose experience spans fashion media, styling and creative direction; Mart-Marie Fourie, bringing a fashion retail and operations perspective; and Anna-Mari Pretorius, whose background includes fashion design, collection development and student competitions.
From the classroom to the industry
The student finalists will have their garments exhibited alongside the SAFW AW27 Collections at The Forum, Hyde Park Corner, Johannesburg.
This placement puts their work in front of an industry audience that includes designers, buyers, retailers, media and sponsors. It also gives students exposure to the professional environment they are preparing to enter.
The winner of the 2026 SAFW Student Competition will be announced on Sunday, 25 October 2026.
For participating students, the exhibition offers a chance to present their work beyond the classroom. For the wider industry, it provides an opportunity to engage with new ideas and the designers developing them.
Building the next generation of South African fashion
From its New Talent Search in 1998 to the Student Competition introduced in 2019, SAFW’s development programmes connect early creative exploration with the realities of the fashion business.
David Tlale’s return after twenty years brings that mission into focus. His journey began with an opportunity to showcase his talent. Today, new designers and students are being given platforms to develop their own voices, refine their craft and understand what it takes to build a sustainable fashion business.
As the AW27 Collections take to the runway, the spotlight will therefore extend beyond established names. It will also reach the designers still finding their place in the industry.
Because the future of South African fashion is not built by one generation alone. It is shaped by the opportunities one generation creates for the next.
