South African mohair makes its mark on Paris fashion ramps

South African mohair shone on one of the fashion capitals of the world in September when young designers ERRE and Lukhanyo Mdingi presented innovative collections in Paris that featured the diamond fibre from the Karoo. 

Although mohair has long been used by luxury fashion houses in Europe, Asia and elsewhere, in South Africa the creative uptake has been slower.  

However, with the rising influence of African design – think of Beyonce’s recent Black is King visual album and the hit Hollywood movies Wakanda and Back2America – its use is likely to rise. Laduma Ngxokolo’s MaXhosa by Laduma label, for one, showcases South African mohair and wool extensively in his iconic knitwear designs on an international stage.  

Annette Pringle-Kölsch, managing member of The Fashion Agent, has worked with several designers, including ERRE and Mdingi, who use a high percentage of mohair in their collections. The Fashion Agent is a business-to-business platform that supplies African brands to luxury goods retailers on this continent and abroad. 

“Mohair is one of the best-kept secrets as even though it is such a big industry and provides a lot of jobs in South Africa, there is not a lot of awareness of it,” said Pringle-Kölsch. 

“However, we do have designers like Lukhanyo and ERRE who are using it more and more. When they make a product using mohair they create more jobs, and this feeds back into the fashion industry and the economy.” 

Mdingi and ERRE were in Paris for two different events but the achievements of both highlight the potential of this country’s natural produce to be used in the international world of luxury fashion. 

Mohair in five words: 

“Strong, honest, beautiful, long-lasting, underrated” – Lukhano Mdingi 

Mdingi, who travelled to Paris as a finalist in the LVMH Prize design competition, became the joint-winner on September 7 of the LVMH Karl Lagerfeld prize, winning €50 000 (around R835 000). It was the second European triumph of 2021 for the Cape Town-based designer, who first showed his Coutts Collection featuring mohair and wool at Pitti Uomo, the Italian menswear trade show in February. 

Fashion icons such as Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs and Virgil Abloh were on the LVMH judging panel which named Mdingi as co-winner with America’s Colm Dillane and China’s Rui Zhou. 

Mohair in five words: 

“Luxurious, lustrous, sustainable, super-soft, comfortable” – ERRE 

Jaume and Louw describe ERRE as a label that focuses on quality fabrics, tactility, craftsmanship and the perfect fit – which makes mohair an ideal raw material. Although they are better known for their use of leather, they are making increasing use of this fibre, thanks to its tactile qualities and ability to hold deep, rich colours. 

“We fell in love with the whole process and beauty of mohair when we visited the Karoo in 2019 on a trip with Mohair South Africa,” said the duo. 

“We saw the whole process from where the Angora goats walk in the fields, how they get sheared, where the fibres are sold at auction, and all the processes they go through to eventually become the beautiful mohair yarns that we use.  

“All the people working in that industry were so happy and friendly, and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing, and we share their passion now as well.” 

ERRE took a range of 10 garments – eight for women, two for men – to Paris for Africa Fashion Up, with their signature look of powerful silhouettes and classic, figure-flattering styles. 

“We purchased mohair blankets from Hintervelt in the brightest colours that we could find and incorporated those into jackets and coats. 

“We’ve also used mohair fibres to create textural details on the surface of garments as well as both machine and hand-knitting pieces from mohair,” they said of the range. 

Natasha Jaume and Carina Louw are the women behind ERRE, the only South African label invited to Paris for the Africa Fashion Up show held later in September. Africa Fashion Up, a programme of Share Africa, has a vision to show the vitality of current African creativity through fashion. 

ERRE exhibited their collection at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild near the Arc de Triomphe, sharing the spotlight with designers from Cameroon, Madagascar, Nigeria, Morocco and the Ivory Coast. 

Let’s put SA mohair on the map 

“It’s time now to put South African mohair on the map and show not only what can be done from a raw material point of view, which is very successful, but also now with the end product,” said Pringle-Kölsch. 

She said the world was ready to hear from Africa how it had been developing its mohair and fashion industries through sharing unique stories and giving a glimpse into richly diverse history and cultures. 

She cited the example of another South African designer, Thebe Magugu, who won the LVMH Prize in 2019 and was more recently a top six finalist for the Woolmark Prize. Magugu also uses mohair extensively, and innovatively, in his designs. 

“Thebe had so many offers after winning the LVMH prize and I’m sure Lukhanyo also will,” she said, adding that Magugu had decided to remain in this country and plough his prize-money into growing his business. 

“When you are in the limelight as a brand like that after winning such a big prize, the pressure is huge but Lukhanyo is also very smart in his business moves, and with whom he works, and when. He’s very mindful and is building it slowly, finding the right people to work with.” 

Sustainable, ethical fashion 

The young designers behind these labels are keenly aware of the move towards sustainability and ethical fashion, a drive that Mohair South Africa has also embraced with the introduction of the Responsible Mohair Standard (RMS). 

As Pringle-Kölsch notes, the use of sustainable natural fibres such as mohair fits into the global trend of moving back to nature, leaving a lower carbon footprint and designing garments that are part of a wider, slow, sustainable fashion environment. 

“It all comes together in those positive elements,” she said, adding that designers such as Magugu, ERRE and Mdingi exemplified this. 

“They have a good, and true, point of view, which ties in with honesty, sustainability and the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI).” 

Mdingi, for one, was hand-picked to participate in the EFI’s Accelerator 2020 programme, which focuses on getting designers from around the world investment ready. 

“Mohair is one of those fibres you can use in any season as it regulates according to the outside temperature and also the temperature of your body. That is something quite special and unique about this particular fibre,” he said. 

The luxurious comfort of mohair 

Jaume and Louw believe South African designers need to be exposed more to the fibre, so that they can use it more.  

“We wish the consumer knew how luxurious and comfortable it is to wear. Quite often, when customers use the word mohair the first thing that comes to mind is the scratchy old blankets, which is what mohair was many years ago. 

“Now the fibres are so soft and comfortable to wear, and they have amazing properties like breathability and moisture wicking that people don’t know about. It’s something that you can’t really explain to them – they need to experience it.” 

Mdingi launched his label in 2015 after graduating from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and creates minimal yet luxurious looks that are distinct, powerful and refined. ⁠ 
⁠His imbues his garments with cross-cultural references, using labour-intensive techniques such as felting and hand knitting as well as industrial knitting. 

“Our label is predominantly known for knitwear and season after season we constantly see how we can refine this,” Mdingi said. His atelier also works with Adele’s Mohair in the Eastern Cape and Cape Town-based dye house and design studio Cowgirlblues. 

‘Something for the forever’ 

“Season after season we’re constantly looking at the essentials and refining each style, creating a timeless sensibility. Our intention is to simply create a body of work that has a sense of soulfulness to it, work of substance that is solid – something for the forever.” 

Mdingi, therefore, uses mohair, and the collaborations with artisanal artists and creatives who work with its yarn, as a “bridge” between the heritage of the past and the desire for timeless fashion today. 

“Mohair is part of our South African heritage and we come from a background where there’s 200 years of mohair farming. 

“I don’t think people realise how much mohair we have in our country or that there are abundant opportunities for South African designers, not just through apparel but through furniture and interiors as well to use mohair. 

“Having these raw materials within your country makes the end product more honest, stronger and just a lot more connected to where you come from.”  

From the mohair farms of the Eastern Cape, to the catwalks of Paris, designers are sharing – and growing – the story of this lustrous diamond fibre.