Karoo Hand Weavers Take Paris Fashion Week by a Slow Storm

Photo Credit: Barrydale Hand Weavers

Hand weavers from the Klein Karoo teamed up with an upcoming designer to do something slow and spectacular enough to showcase at Paris Fashion Week!

Barrydale, South Africa (25 March 2024) — In the Klein Karoo’s small town of Barrydale lies a hidden gem of South African talent that’s slowly but surely weaving its way to some of fashion’s most renowned intersections.

The crafters behind the humble and meticulous art of handloom weaving are also the life force and heart of the rural town. By their hands, they have turned an upskilling opportunity into something much bigger than bespoke blankets or fabrics. Instead, each piece of garment or homeware they produce and share with South Africa (and now, the world) is a piece of hope that where you’re from does not dictate how far you can go.

For the Barrydale Hand Weavers, a big pitstop on their global showcase is none other than the recent Paris Fashion Week for a capsule collection of slow-made garments.

Made possible by an ongoing collaboration with local fashion designer Luke Radloff of UNI FORM, the designs by Radloff and the craftsmanship by the Barrydale Hand Weavers brought to the stage a taste of the Klein Karoo and slow fashion in fashion’s capital city!

For those who haven’t yet met Luke Radloff’s work, the designer and creative director won the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation x Orveda residency program prize last year, largely for “perfectly” embodying the Foundation’s values: social responsibility and craftsmanship, per Vogue.