Rolling Stone Magazine: 6 Memorable Collections From South African Fashion Week SS25

Finally, Shaldon Kopman's Naked Ape: a collection that felt like a walk across sacred land.

Shaldon's eco-warrior ethos was stitched into earthy browns, dusty olives, and sand-washed linens. Pieces were functional, but far from utilitarian, think relaxed trousers that drape like desert robes, jackets cut with the precision of a ceremonial blade.

His “Ethi Ecos” mantra: Ethical, Ecological, Economical, wasn't a marketing ploy. You could feel it in the hand-dyed fabrics, the biodegradable fibres, the slow fashion manifesto whispered through every seam. Naked Ape dresses the modern nomad who moves lightly but leaves an indelible print.

To be recognised by Rolling Stone Africa among the six most memorable collections from South African Fashion Week SS25 is not simply a media moment — it is a validation of a creative philosophy that has been quietly, deliberately built over two decades. Shaldon Kopman does not design for the moment. He designs for the long arc of a life well lived, for the person who chooses their clothing the way they choose their values: with intention, with care, and with an awareness of the world they are moving through.

The SS25 Urban Camo collection arrived at SAFW not as a spectacle, but as a statement. Where other collections competed for volume and velocity, Naked Ape offered stillness. The garments moved through the Forum at Hyde Park with the unhurried confidence of something that does not need to announce itself — because it already knows its worth. Hand-dyed fabrics in muted earth tones. Silhouettes that referenced the landscape without mimicking it. A collection that felt, as Rolling Stone noted, like a walk across sacred land.

This is what Naked Ape has always been: a brand that treats the act of getting dressed as something close to ceremony. Each piece is made to be worn, to be kept, to be passed on. In a fashion industry that moves faster than it thinks, that is a radical act.

Read the full article on Rolling Stone Africa

Explore The Naked Ape Collection — handcrafted African luxury fashion by Shaldon Kopman.