Lukhanyo Mdingi
Lukhanyo Mdingi
Cape Town, South Africa

Lukhanyo Mdingi’s eponymous label is an ever-evolving emergence of consideration, community and timeless design. Established in Cape Town, South Africa in 2015, the label exists as a space that moves deeply into the very essence of human ingenuity and the preservation of craftsmanship. Fundamental to the cosmology of Lukhanyo Mdingi, is the exploration of fashion as its current lexicon through which they harness the spirit of being human. In this way, the label re-imagines and reinstates dignity and notoriety in their garment production with a small team based in Cape Town, while continually collaborating with artisans on the continent such as the expert weavers from PHILANI in Khayelitsha, Cape Town to textile artisans at CABES GIE in Burkina Faso.

Lukhanyo’s approach to design is a practice that is centered around these relationships; it is from these symbiotic connections that Lukhanyo Mdingi conceptualizes collections, believing that beginning with human beings is where the essence is held for creating meaningful & intelligent design. In working with the notion of lineage-building; this is particularly noted in their partnership with the Ethical Fashion Initiative, as well as being the recipient of the LVMH Karl Lagerfeld Prize in 2021, leading on becoming a finalist of the ANDAM Prize 2022.

These on-going relationships continue to nurture the label’s longevity, balancing both the creative and entrepreneurial spirit for which Lukhanyo Mdingi is known. Having debuted at SA Menswear Week in the year of their inception, 2015, the label has presented at New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week to acclaimed reception. This eternal reverence for the hands that make is central to Lukhanyo Mdingi’s vision, and the label is a testimony and dialogue occurring on African soil as an intention to emanate outward across the planet.