Guests at Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards 2025. Image supplied
With new categories celebrating artisanal practice, innovation and fashion across the continent, the awards further recognises people and organisations working towards a fashion and textile industry that is kind, fair, inclusive, diverse, nature-friendly and circular.
“Since we launched the awards eight years ago, our judges have identified people and organisations working towards a fashion and textile industry that is kind, fair, inclusive, diverse, nature-friendly and circular. They are added to our growing ecosystem and trusted online directory,” says Jackie May, the director of Twyg.
This year, the Awards continue to broaden the conversation about what sustainable fashion can be, with a particular focus on artisanal practice, innovation and the richness of fashion and textile production across Africa.
The 2026 categories
The 2026 Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards comprise nine open categories:
- Accessory Award celebrates accessory brands that combine quality, durability and thoughtful design with ethical labour practices, responsible materials and consideration of end-of-life.
- Artisanal Fashion Award celebrates designers and makers using artisanal and craft techniques, including weaving, beading, embroidery, botanical dyeing and other traditional and contemporary practices. The award recognises the skills, knowledge, people and cultural heritage embedded in craft.
- Emerging Designer Award recognises designers at the beginning of establishing their brands who demonstrate creativity, quality and a commitment to environmental, social and cultural responsibility.
- Fashion Innovation Award recognises innovative approaches to fashion’s environmental and social challenges, including new materials, technologies, construction techniques, waste reduction and circular design.
- Pan-African Award celebrates a designer or fashion brand from an African country other than South Africa that is contributing to a more responsible African fashion ecosystem and supporting local production, skills, livelihoods, craft and value chains.
- Retail Award recognises retailers and retail initiatives using fashion retail as a force for environmental and social good, including through resale, rental, repair, swapping and other circular models.
- Student Award celebrates students at South African academic institutions who are using sustainable and circular design principles to challenge conventional approaches to fashion.
- Tastemaker Award recognises photographers, stylists, influencers, writers, thought-leaders and content creators who promote sustainable, circular, local and African fashion and help shift the conversation around responsible production and consumption.
- Trans-seasonal Design Award celebrates versatile, timeless and durable fashion that challenges the trend-driven cycles of fast fashion.
Celebrating African fashion futures
The Awards reflect Twyg’s belief that transforming fashion requires more than designers alone.
It requires makers and craftspeople, producers and retailers, students and educators, communicators and entrepreneurs – people working across the fashion ecosystem to rethink how clothes and accessories are designed, made, sold, worn and valued.
The Changemaker Award is not open for nominations. It is awarded to the strongest overall candidate emerging from the eligible categories and recognises an exceptional contribution to changing the fashion system through sustainable, circular, ethical and/or regenerative practice.
The Changemaker will receive a cash prize of R100,000.
The Pan-African Award is not eligible for consideration for the Changemaker Award due to logistical considerations.
The 2026 winners will be announced on 19 November, and a celebration will hosted in Cape Town on the same day.
Enter now!
Nominations close on Wednesday, 14 October 2026.
How to enter: You do not need to submit garments or prepare a traditional portfolio to enter.
Nominees can nominate themselves or a peer and complete the relevant Twyg entry form, providing information about their work and demonstrating how it meets the criteria for their chosen category.
Entries will be assessed against pre-defined criteria, including quality and design, ethical labour, transparency, resource use, material sourcing, waste and pollution, environmental and climate impact, and sustainable and circular practice.
View the 2026 categories and nomination forms here.
