The story of fashion brand Naked Ape is one of creativity, collapse and coming back to craftsmanship — told in prints, silks and silence.
In the calm of his new studio, surrounded by swatches of raw silk and botanical prints, Shaldon Kopman reflects on a career that has literally taken him around the world and back home again, leaving him stronger, quieter and more self-aware than he was before.
The Sunday Times feature on Naked Ape and SA Fashion Week captures a pivotal moment in South African fashion — one in which a new generation of designers is pushing the industry forward not through imitation of global trends, but through a deep, confident return to African identity, African craft, and African storytelling. Kopman sits at the centre of that movement, not as a figurehead, but as a practitioner: someone who shows up to the studio every day and makes things with his hands and his history.
His return to the runway after a period of reflection was not a comeback in the conventional sense. It was a recalibration. The Afro Monks collection that marked his relaunch at SA Fashion Week AW25 was quieter than anything he had shown before — and more powerful for it. The SS25 Urban Camo collection that followed deepened that language further, drawing on the African landscape, on botanical art, on the slow fashion principles that have always underpinned his practice.
What the Sunday Times recognised in Kopman is what those who have followed Naked Ape closely have always known: that this is a designer building something real. Not a brand. Not a label. A body of work — one that grows more coherent, more considered, and more compelling with every collection. The prints, the silks, the silence. They are not aesthetic choices. They are a philosophy, worn.
Read the full article in the Sunday Times
Explore The Naked Ape Collection — handcrafted African luxury fashion by Shaldon Kopman.
About the Author
Shaldon Kopman — Founder & Creative Director, Naked Ape Official
Shaldon Kopman is the Founder and Creative Director of Naked Ape Official, a South African premium ethical fashion brand guided by the Ethi-Eco² philosophy. With over 15 years in African fashion design, Shaldon has showcased at South African Fashion Week and been featured in Rolling Stone Africa, Mail & Guardian and more.