A winter wonderland in Cape Town this weekend...

Entrance to the expo is free and the aim is to create awareness of South African design as well as generate sales and facilitate business opportunities across the fashion chain. Exhibitors include proudly South African manufacturers and retailers.

The festival, an initiative of Sactwu, is South Africa's biggest sectoral promotion of local products and was launched in 2002 with the aim of establishing Cape Town as a global fashion capital and promoting local design and fashion. It is also a concerted effort to act against retrenchments and keep people in jobs by ensuring consistent local demand.

Sactwu general-secretary, Ebrahim Patel, said the expo also sought to showcase the immense creativity of SA fashion as well as offering visitors affordable products exhibited.

A snow ramp, six metres high, six metres wide and 26m in length is being specially constructed for the expo and will be the focal point for events taking place over the weekend. Taking full advantage of the ramp, SA snow-boarding championships will kick off the expo on Friday morning, interspersed with sports-gear fashion shows. There are 120 exhibitor stands stacked with designer-gear selling at discounted prices. Daily catwalk extravaganzas will feature the latest in designer, couture and high street fashion.

"There will be three manufacturing companies setting up production lines at the Expo where visitors can see how clothes are put together and they will then have an opportunity to buy that garment. It's all part of the strategy to weave in the theme of the Festival into the expo, which is 'Wear South African'," Patel said.

He added: "There is a serious business to fashion, especially the business of jobs. The expo will highlight to consumers the importance of this as well as fostering the link between buying and selling. On the lifestyle side, consumers and visitors to the Expo will get to see what's hot this winter ahead of everyone else in South Africa."