The Karoo Winter Wool Festival is all about celebrating natural fibres and all things authentically Karoo! Come Dance the night away in a Karoo wool shed, run or ride through the beautiful Karoo Koppies, learn about wool, develop your crafting skills with wool workshops, marvel at unique South African made woollen products, indulge in delicious Karoo food and drink, make friends and perhaps some new business connections. 

In June 2022, Middelburg hosted the first ever Karoo Winter Wool festival. The aim of this festival was to create an authentic, inspiring and informative space for people throughout the wool industry to celebrate wool. We aimed to develop a space where networks could be built, collaborations made and individuals inspired. 

Middelburg Eastern Cape is the perfect place for this celebtation as it lies at the heart of the wool growing country. Middelburg is home to some of the oldest sheep farms in the country as well as Grootfontein Agricultural Development Institute, a well known education institute that specialises in small livestock husbandary.  This festival hopes to reconnect people with the wool fibre, bringing them back to the source of wool, back to the farms. What an honour it has been to be part of this first celebration of wool. 

The Karoo Winter Wool Market has joined hands with Twyg to bring Karoo Winter Wool Festival goers and Twyg followers an unique learning and sharing experience. 

AFRIC TEXTILE TALKS 

The first of its kind, the Africa Textile Talks is a three-day Southern Africa hybrid event.

Save these dates: 23 – 25 JUNE 2022

Join us to learn and hear about farming regeneratively, about botanical dyeing, traditional crafts, fashion designing with natural fibres, upcycling and so much more..

The in-person events will be hosted in Mauritius and on a working Karoo wool farm in Middleburg, South Africa, alongside the Karoo Winter Wool Festival. The focus on local growing and production – farm to fashion – will enhance a connection to place, and illuminate the immense potential of nature-friendly textile industries, as we return to our roots, reconnect to our natural environments, and reimagine the future of fashion.

Join us! And help grow the movement of ethical, circular and sustainable growers, makers, designers, creatives and innovators.

*Festival Photos by Samantha Reinders