South Africa returns to the global fashion spotlight at BRICS Fashion Summit - IOL
Molife Kumona, Editor-in-Chief, GQ South Africa; Stephen Manzini, Founder and CEO of Soweto Fashion Week; Tinyiko Baloyi, Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg; and Vusi Ngobeni, Head of Design at the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
South Africa returns to the international stage at the BRICS Fashion Summit, taking place in Moscow from September 28 to 30, 2026.
Soweto Fashion Week will represent the country as part of the South African delegation. The event is officially recognised as part of the BRICS agenda and is among the industry’s top international gatherings: throughout its history, it has hosted industry experts from 109 countries in Moscow.
The BRICS+ Fashion Summit will once again bring together the industry leaders shaping responses to the rapidly changing global landscape, from heads of national fashion weeks and industry associations to manufacturers, retailers, and investors.
They will deliberate on the major structural shifts shaping the global fashion industry, including logistics routes, consumer behaviour, and the growing importance of regional manufacturing hubs.
“Africa remains one of the key sourcing and manufacturing hubs of the global fashion industry, while a new generation of local brands across the continent is actively seeking distribution channels beyond domestic markets.
“For South Africa, the Summit can open up new entry points into the export networks of fast-growing economies – from textile manufacturing to designer retail,” say the organisers of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit.
For many participants, the summit offers an opportunity to establish direct business connections with industry professionals from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East markets, where manufacturing is expanding, new brands are emerging, and demand for fashion products is increasing most rapidly.
Its intensive business format makes the forum a practical platform for finding partners, suppliers, and distribution channels.
“BRICS fashion is no longer simply about bringing different countries into the same room. The next step is turning that dialogue into real markets, investment, and movement of talent. The Global South has the creativity, manufacturing capability, and consumer markets to build a stronger fashion economy on its own terms.
“Our responsibility now is to create the connections that allow designers, brands, and businesses to move beyond representation and into genuine international opportunity,” says Stephen Manzini, founder of Soweto Fashion Week and member of the International Committee, BRICS+ Fashion Summit.
The BRICS+ Fashion Summit business programme is structured around tracks such as creativity, manufacturing and logistics, marketing and sales, and entrepreneurship and investment. Within these tracks, over 250 speakers will discuss the restructuring of supply chains, the use of cultural identity as a strategic asset, the adoption of artificial intelligence in design and retail, the values shaping a new generation of consumers and international expansion strategies for manufacturers.
Among the confirmed participants from Africa at the upcoming season of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit are Tery Carola, CEO of Seychelles Fashion Week; Nana Addo Tamakloe, CEO of Accra Fashion Week (Ghana); Mustafa Hassanali, CEO of Swahili Fashion Week (Tanzania).
The BRICS+ Fashion Summit will coincide with another significant event: Moscow Fashion Week, the premier platform for emerging designers that facilitates their effective integration into the international scene.
Taking place in Moscow from September 26 to October 1, it will feature more than 70 fashion shows by designers from Spain, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, the UK, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, and other countries.
