Recent runway showcases at South African Fashion Week and Fame Week Africa demonstrated how authenticated pre-owned designer pieces can be integrated into contemporary local fashion, creating new styling opportunities while highlighting the potential to keep quality products in circulation for longer.
At South African Fashion Week, designer Craig Jacobs styled his The New Earth transeasonal 2026/27 collection for Fundudzi with 12 pairs of pre-owned designer shoes supplied by Luxity, a South African source and reseller of pre-owned authenticated luxury goods.
Inspired by Southern Africa's geological landscapes, the collection reworked surplus and discarded garments. The footwear included Jimmy Choo suede stilettos, Tod's bow-detail sandals and Louis Vuitton suede loafers, bringing together reconstructed clothing and established luxury design.
“This was a natural fit,” says Jacobs. “The New Earth is all about transformation and rethinking the value of things we have come to regard as disposable. Luxity shares an appreciation for quality, design and the longevity of well-made luxury, and I loved the idea of extending the collection’s thinking beyond the garments and bringing pre-owned luxury into the conversation.”
He adds that incorporating pre-owned pieces helped reinforce the collection's circular fashion message.
The approach extended to Cape Town, where pre-loved luxury handbags and sunglasses featured in Tastes + Threads, the runway show at Fame Week Africa's African Fashion Forum.
Presented under the theme Threads of Africa: From the Streets to the World, the show brought together Urban Zulu, House of Xandria and Thethana/Emotives, with designers pairing their collections with accessories supplied by Luxity.
The pieces included a Dolce & Gabbana DG Girls phone bag, a Balenciaga Hourglass XS, a quilted Burberry TB bag and Bottega Veneta cat-eye sunglasses.
For the local fashion industry, these collaborations demonstrate how established luxury accessories can be incorporated into new design narratives, creating contrast between global luxury labels and contemporary African fashion.
They also point to a wider opportunity for the pre-owned luxury market: extending the relevance of existing products through styling, resale and new creative applications rather than treating each season as a complete replacement cycle.
The South African showcases reflect a broader international shift towards archive and vintage fashion, with pieces from previous collections increasingly appearing on red carpets and runways.
At Cannes, Simone Ashley wore a crimson Alexander McQueen gown from the label's Fall 2005 collection, previously worn by Gisele Bündchen at the 2011 Met Gala. Bella Hadid also stepped out in a Prada Sport vest and capri pants from spring 1999.
“There’s so much craftsmanship in designer bags and shoes from earlier collections. I’d love to see more designers look at what already exists before they create or source new stock,” says Michael Zahariev, co-founder of Luxity.
The growing visibility of archive fashion creates an opportunity to reconsider the value of older collections, particularly where craftsmanship and design allow products to remain relevant beyond their original retail season.
The collaborations also bring attention to fashion's environmental footprint and the role of resale in extending product lifecycles.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that the equivalent of a rubbish truckload of clothing is burnt or buried in landfill every second. While Fundudzi reconstructed surplus and discarded garments for its collection, the Luxity-supplied shoes and accessories were incorporated into the runway looks without alteration.
The two approaches illustrate different ways of extending the life of existing fashion: redesigning materials into new garments and keeping quality accessories in circulation through resale and continued use.
“Much of fashion is treated as disposable once the next season arrives, even when it's been beautifully made,” says Zahariev. “The longer we keep well-made clothing and accessories in circulation, the less pressure there is to keep replacing them. That's a mindset we'd like to see more of across the industry.”
For the resale market, the runway offers more than visibility. It positions pre-owned luxury as part of the fashion ecosystem, connecting authenticated resale with designers, stylists and consumers who are looking for alternatives to buying new.
Pre-owned luxury also creates another entry point for consumers interested in established designer brands but facing the high cost of buying new.
According to Luxity, 57.7% of purchases on its platform are below R10,000, indicating demand for luxury products across a range of price points.
Zahariev advises shoppers to start with versatile pieces that can work across different outfits and occasions.
“The best place to start is with a bag or watch that you'll actually use,” he says. “Look for something that suits your personal style and that you can wear in different ways.”
For South African retailers and designers, the intersection of resale and contemporary fashion presents an opportunity to engage with changing attitudes towards ownership, value and sustainability.
The runway collaborations suggest that pre-owned luxury need not sit outside the mainstream fashion industry. By bringing archive pieces into new collections and styling contexts, designers are showing how existing products can contribute to fresh creative expression – and how fashion's next statement piece may already be in circulation.
