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SA Fashion Week has never been shy of being the bedrock of powerful design talent in the country.

Its runway has been graced by the vibrant colours of Rich Mnisi, the expert storytelling of Thebe Magugu and the deeply cultural works of Loxion Kulca.

Every season, SA Fashion Week opens up space to its runways for new talents in menswear and womenswear. This season it was the Scouting Menswear leg that opened doors for its newest stars, design duo Refuse. Malcolm Mokgope and Minenhle Memela started their brand in 2016 and for the past six years they have built a brand that captures the essence of urban youths. Taking it to the runway, their collections have sought to reflect the issues and trends that concern men and women in these environments.

And the title? While rejecting modern trends and also concentrating on how fabrics can come together, the multi-layered “refuse” refers to the waste that has piled up in the fashion industry and built the foundations of their brand.

“Now that everybody likes the whole global fashion language around sustainability, for us it wasn’t even like that. We grew up thrifting, so we thought about how we can teach the next generation about that culture,” says Memela.

“In IsiZulu we say udothi [refuse] and people look at thrifting as udothi and we created a luxury brand around the stigma and all the bad connotations society puts on bad things.”

SA has been heralded for its long durable and sustainably produced cotton, something threaded throughout their collection. Additionally, the design duo shies away from harmful fabrics that are a detriment to not only how long they last in your closet but how harmful they are to the environment when discarded.

While both have had a thrilling journey in fashion, it’s Mokgope who shares that he has always been a fanatic of the world. So much so he often pressured his mother into buying him the latest clothing.

“I don’t know when it started, but I feel like fashion chose me. I’ve always loved it. Once I even cried as a kid when I wanted Timberlands [boots], but my mom bought me Bronx shoes – the ones that look like Timberlands. I only got them in grade 10. My mom bought them because I did well at school and she thought it was time to make my dream come true.”

The brains of the operations, Memela’s role is conceptualising the collections behind the brand which mirrors Mokgope’s work as well, much like his previous collection that explored how men in “Durban wear comfortable clothing that rarely focuses on style”. The collection earned Mokgope a number of laureates and it comes as no surprise that Durban was the inspiration for their recent laureled collection.

Titled Uhambo, the collection samples Zulu culture. This includes sportswear as seen with an updated version of an Amazulu FC jersey, the infamous leopard print sported on a pullover and even photos of former Zulu kings that create the design for a black-and-white shirt.

“We titled the collection Uhambo, which means taking a journey, and this is where the journey begins for us. This is us stepping away from our comfort zone where we grew up. — sowetan.