Textile legend, Fashion Designer and Director of MAXXAM®, the inventor of the ‘Original Crinkle’ Rosemary Moore, in collaboration with the Graduate Fashion Foundation, is proud to announce Paballo Sannah Makifafe as the overall winner of the inaugural GFF x MAXXAM® design competition, unveiled during the Gala Show at Graduate Fashion Week 2025, held on 16 June at the Truman Brewery, Shoreditch.
The competition, launched earlier this year, invited fashion students from across the UK and internationally to design a S/S 2026 womenswear capsule collection using MAXXAM® – the original 4-way stretch crinkle fabric invented by Moore and still in production today. The brief challenged students to produce timeless range of one size seamless multi-purpose athleisure wear for a weeks holiday that embraced the fabric’s history and included at least one piece of swimwear.
After narrowing down over 40 entries to a shortlist of 10, and then to three finalists, Paballo Sannah Makofate impressed the judges with a collection that stood out for its theme, creativity, sustainability story, innovation, and commercial viability.
Rosemary Moore, inventor of MAXXAM® said, “All the three students Ivo, Ella and Paballo, challenged us at the design and make up stage of their designs offering very innovative use of our textiles for SS 2026. A key theme running across all three capsules collections was the creative utilisation of any waste occurring at the cutting stage which from our viewpoint is vital right now to reduce the issues of disposing of waste. Our final decision was greatly influenced by the integrity of Paballo’s story line for her collection, combined with her creative interchangeable range of colourful silhouettes.”
The final judging took place live during Graduate Fashion Week, where each finalist’s look was presented on the catwalk as part of the Gala Show. The overall winner, Paballo Sannah Makofate, representing Stadio School of Fashion in Pretoria South Africa could have an opportunity to work in collaboration with Rosemary and one of her brands in the near future.
Paballo Sannah Makofate, Winner of the GFF x MAXXAM® Competition said, “Winning for me is amazing. It’s an honor, especially as a student and designer coming from South Africa. It is an exciting way to start my career and means everything to me to know that a brand has chosen me and believes in my designs.
Working with Rosemary was amazing, the communication was great on both our sides, she really understood my designs and made so much time for me. She was incredible to work with. I would definitely recommend the competition to other students, I think any type of competition is a door opener in your career, as well a fantastic opportunity to learn even if you don’t make it to the final. You get to have that experience of creating a portfolio for brand and understand the standards of the fashion industry.”
This marks an exciting milestone in celebrating the legacy and future of MAXXAM®, while championing the creativity of emerging design talent.
Follow the students’ journey and see behind-the-scenes content on GFF social channels using #GFFxMAXXAM.