Gavin Rajah showed his collection to a packed audience at Virgin Mobile Cape Town Fashion Week on Thursday.

Gavin Rajah has not only become a household name in South Africa, but is one of the pillars of design in our country, who's also heavily focused on growing the fashion industry. After years of showing, we spoke to Gavin about his feelings this time around...

Cape Town fashion week is coming up. Tell us what this event means to you?

It's an opportunity to show our new couture collection to our South African clients and local fashion media. For us it's about gearing towards another season which will turn into a commercial success. This season our collection is about showing the technical expertise of my studio.

Who do you design for?

Private clients through to commercial ranges for export and my store. I dress all people and I think that it's a measure of how good a designer can be — you can't dress just model figures.

Let's talk about ethical design. What are your feelings on a designer's role in ensuring the manufacturing process if free from exploitation? How do you approach this with regards to your own label?

I am very diligent in making sure that none of the components or fabrics I use are from countries that are on the UN's Human Rights Watch List or that have unregulated labour legislation. Off course as a Unicef ambassador I am anti any form or use of child labour.

Tell us what inspired your spring/summer 2008/2009 collection?

This season it was largely inspired by my travels through South America. The old architecture juxtaposed against new world bulidings, the passionate lifestyles of Latin American people, and the incredible sense of style and unashamed sultriness of the women. This collection is dedicated to my staff and the collection reflects their absolutely amazing sense of dedication, expertise and love they put into their work.

Where do you think we are at in terms of the fashion industry in SA? Do we still have a long way to go and what kind of progress have we made?

We still have some way to go and I do think that we need to focus on education and technical skills that will equip the industry to be able to compete on an international platform. We need to produce more designers that will be commercially successful locally and internationally.

Let's talk about optimism versus criticism. Both in SA in general and in the local fashion industry. What are your thoughts?

In terms of being optimistic well I think that at times we are super optimists who want to aim at doing good in the industry and we end of doing more harm. Look at the line up for fashion week — where are our established designers who have successful businesses?

I am all for young designers being successful but what will happen post their shows? Are we not setting them up for failure by creating an illusion that this is an easy industry to break into? Are organisers forced into choosing labels and brands that are simply based on the conditions set out by sponsors/government bodies?

Who is advising and assisting these designers to become commercially viable? I'm sad to see the number of designers that do not repeatedly show on fashion weeks.

The public and buyers want to see consistency and designers need to instil buyer confidence. I would like to see young designers given more assistance in prepping them to deal with the realities of the fashion industry and to be able to build sustainable brands.

Your show is sold out. Do you think this is a reflection of the mood in SA towards local designers?

I think it's about the brand that we have created and the following that we have. Our guest list is made up predominantly of clients. We are not in the business of doing shows for the sake of entertainment. We treat fashion week as platform to increase sales, attract new clientele and market our brand.

Finally, there must be one 'it' item for summer in your collection. What is it?

This season there are so many pieces that suit so many different body shapes but I think the cotton voile shirt dress that we have done is amazing and suits many figures and hides a multitude of sins…

Virgin Mobile Cape Town Fashion Week is on at the Cape Town Convention Centre from the 13-16 August. Visit http://africanfashioninternational.com for more information.