South Africa’s fashion scene is a vibrant and diverse landscape, bursting with creativity and urban style. This vibrant scene is a melting pot of cultures, where traditional African aesthetics collide with contemporary trends, giving birth to a unique and authentic aesthetic. Discover what brands are popular in South Africa.
Popular Brands in South Africa
StarNgage’s Best Brands is a curated list of the Top 100 socially-devoted companies on Instagram. Find out the most influential brands based on their followers size.
Mr Price is ranked #1 as the most popular brand in South Africa. The average engagement rate is 0.06 with 1,250,146 followers count. WOOLWORTHS SA and The FIX are ranked 2nd and 3rd in the list. In terms of user engagement, WOOLWORTHS SA has an average engagement rate of 0.08, follower size of 983,106. Similarly, The FIX average engagement rate is 0.10, with 788,363 followers. Abuti Thabi is a top Instagram Brand that ranks in 4th place.
Here's a quick overview of the top brands based on Instagram popularity:
| Rank | Brand | Average Engagement Rate | Follower Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mr Price | 0.06 | 1,250,146 |
| 2 | WOOLWORTHS SA | 0.08 | 983,106 |
| 3 | The FIX | 0.10 | 788,363 |
| 4 | Abuti Thabi | - | - |
Streetwear Brands
Artelier
Artelier is a breath of fresh air in the South African streetwear scene. Drawing inspiration from international tech-wear trends, the Pretoria-based brand blends workwear and utility elements into their designs. With their innovative approach and impressive growth, Artelier has quickly made a name for itself, showcasing their collections at SA Fashion Week and prestigious pop-up events.
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Cultish
Cultish is a Cape Town-based brand that has quickly gained a reputation for its high-quality streetwear. With their distinctive graphic tees and sweaters, Cultish has stood out from the competition.
Leaf Apparel
Leaf Apparel has been a mainstay in Cape Town’s fashion scene for years. Known for their streetwear-inspired designs and commitment to quality, the brand has garnered international attention.
Long Season
Long Season is a Johannesburg-based brand that seamlessly blends high fashion and culture. Their meteoric rise has been fueled by collaborations with iconic events like Rocking the Daises and brands like Yoco.
Rating Street style In South Africa, Fashion Trends 2024/2025, JVICED
Boys of Soweto
Boys of Soweto is more than just a clothing brand; it’s a tribute to one of South Africa’s most iconic townships. Based in the vibrant Braamfontein district, the brand offers a collection of smart-casual knitwear pieces that are both functional and stylish. With their unique designs and commitment to quality, Boys of Soweto has garnered a loyal following, including notable figures like Khuli Chana, Mpho Sebeng, and Trevor Stuurman.
Wanda Lephoto
Wanda Lephoto is a name synonymous with South African fashion. Despite facing temporary closures, the brand has made a triumphant comeback in recent years. Wanda’s iconic designs have caught the attention of global audiences, with appearances at Milan Fashion Week and collaborations with renowned brands like Dakota.
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Sustainable Fashion Brands
Looking at the sustainable fashion brands from different countries gives you a sense of place and illustrates that slow fashion has a uniquely local flair in each country. South Africa is a country with rich textile heritages. Before the rise of fast fashion and expansive global production, South Africa used to have a thriving local textile economy and was known as a garment production hub.
Now, as there is a growing realization of the importance of embracing local production and celebrating local makers, South African sustainable fashion brands that are reclaiming the local production space and encouraging us to cultivate local fashion role models, are on the rise. The slow fashion space in South Africa is small, but growing steadily.
SELFISELFI
SELFISELFI is known for their minimalist, sculptural silhouettes that evoke a sense of wonder. The name “SELFI” originates from the word “self” and was intended to evoke feelings of self-empowerment, self-care, and well-being.
Transparency is key to this sustainable and ethical South African clothing brand. Online, you’ll find a clear outline of their sustainability efforts, a fabric library that outlines all the natural fibers they use (alongside their environmental impacts), as well as a fabric care guide to make your loved clothes last.
ANMARI HONIBALL
Anmari Honiball’s garments can be best described as “playful”. Honiball experiments with patchwork, zero-waste design, and upcycling to create statement staples with quirky details that focus on comfort and versatility. Every garment begins and ends in her Johannesburg studio, where she works alongside her seamstress, Ilona.
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ÇOISE
ÇOISE is the embodiment of ‘quality over quantity’. The South African sustainable clothing brand focuses on creating high-quality, timeless garments that will create the basis for a versatile trans-seasonal wardrobe.
ÇOISE also offers a basic alterations service to make sure that you get the perfect fit.
Fuata Moyo
Fuata Moyo is a Swahili saying which means “follow the heart”. Founded by four siblings - Kabambi, Martine, Tshimaro, and Lucy - this is the ethos by which the Mbiola siblings live and work.
From refashioning clothing and upcycling garments, to adorning them with hand-painted artworks and creating new garments with flair + considered tailoring, this family-owned and run business is embracing slow fashion in all that they do.
Sindiso Khumalo
Sindiso Khumalo is a Cape Town-based sustainable textile designer and social activist who started her namesake sustainable fashion brand in 2015 with the vision of creating sustainable clothing inspired by African history.
With textiles and craft at the heart of her collections, she works closely with NGOs and small workshops in South Africa and Burkina Faso producing unique handwoven and hand-embroidered textiles for her collections. Khumalo’s immaculately constructed garments are best known for their signature hand-drawn and painted motifs that are created by Khumalo herself.
Lukhanyo Mdingi
Lukahnyo Mdingi has often said that the motivating factors behind his timeless creations are honesty and love. His namesake South African sustainable fashion brand is known for its immaculate attention to detail and a carefully considered, ethical production process.
In creating his trans-seasonal garments, Mdingi predominantly works with natural fibers that are sourced in South Africa including wool, silk, and mohair.
Me&B
Me&B is a mother-daughter run ethical fashion brand based in the heart of Cape Town.
Sama Sama
Lovingly created by Kimberly Lardner-Burke in 2018, Sama Sama aims to offer conscious basics and “clothing designed to allow movement, unrestricted and with compassion for the body”.
Ethics and sustainability are the driving force of this South African sustainable fashion brand that uses 100% natural fibers and works with local fabric suppliers and manufacturing companies that prioritize fair wage practices.
Tshepo Jeans
Tshepo Jeans is a South African ethical fashion brand that makes ready-to-wear denim. As a third generation storyteller, founder Tshepo Mohlala was drawn to denim because of its durable and trans-seasonal nature, as well as the fact that everyone has a story to tell about their jeans.
The brand sources cotton from Zimbabwe which is then dyed in Japan using indigo dyeing techniques that were originally created in Africa. The production of the jeans is done in-house at their Johannesburg Atelier by a small team of skilled makers and artisans.
Research Unit
Research Unit creates elevated basics that are sustainably made by women in marginalized communities in Cape Town. Time spent on research and development is vital to this South African sustainable clothing brand.
This slow, thoughtful process allows them to create garments that focus on innovation, design, waste reduction, community empowerment, and continuous care. They believe that one of the greatest forms of sustainability must be to give back to their community, and to keep the industry and skills within it alive.
U Be You
U Be You, is a gender-neutral, made-to-order South African sustainable fashion brand creating clothing that will speak to your inner child. This slow fashion brand brings a sense of whimsical playfulness to streetwear.
U Be You’s bold approach to color and form challenges us to embrace fashion as an art medium and helps and encourages a return to the golden rule of dressing for yourself: if you like it, you should wear it.
Daisie Jo
Daisie Jo creates one-off pieces of wearable art with slow living in mind. Daisie Jo is a beautifully eclectic, whimsical South African sustainable clothing brand encouraging us all to embrace our imperfections and humanness by creating garments that reflect just that.
The bold silhouettes and impeccable hand-embroidered and hand-painted details are all reminders that fashion is an art form and medium for expression.
UNI FORM
UNI FORM is an exploration of architecture and structure using fashion as a medium and a neutral color palette. Using mostly natural fibers, founder Luke Radloff creates modular, trans-seasonal pieces with exaggerated silhouettes that focus on quality first and foremost.
In the production and process, UNI FORM also prioritizes collaborations that contribute to the creation of a sustainable fashion future.
nuun
Founded by mother-son duo Zainab and Shaheed Martin, nuun describes itself as an “eco-conscious concept space”. This is an apt description given that this South African slow fashion brand is on a continuous journey to find innovative solutions to sustainability concerns while producing garments of the finest quality.
Working with locally and ethically sourced textiles and developing concepts with the intent of being sensitive to the environment as well as having a positive social impact is central to their design ethos.
