In many South African homes, the story of clothing doesn’t end with its first owner. A school shirt is carefully ironed and packed away for a younger brother. A babygrow, washed and folded countless times, is handed to a cousin or neighbour. A pair of school shoes, polished one more time, finds new life on a different playground. This culture of hand-me-downs is a practical, beautiful expression of value, resilience and care.

Yet in the global fashion landscape, another culture has taken hold – fast fashion. Here, affordability is too often equated with disposability. Clothes are made cheaply, worn briefly and discarded quickly, feeding a cycle of waste that places enormous strain on both wallets and the planet. Too often, sustainability is seen as the preserve of expensive fashion, from niche labels to organic collections, often feeling out of reach for everyday shoppers.

This narrative ignores the lived reality of millions of families who both expect and deserve clothing that is affordable and built to last.

PepClo has long been part of South African family life, producing the essentials that households return to year after year. School uniforms, babygrows, cotton T-shirts, underwear and shoes are everyday staples, and their value is measured by how long they last.

Durability put to the test: PepClo schoolwear achieves 45 washes
PepClo’s school shirts and school pants have now been tested against the ISO 6330 method, the international standard for assessing how garments withstand domestic laundering. While the standard itself does not prescribe a fixed number of washes, the industry has adopted 45 washes as a benchmark for durability, a level supported by WRAP’s Clothing Longevity Protocol and recognised by global retailers.

PepClo’s garments pass this 45-wash benchmark, proving that affordable schoolwear can last longer without compromising on quality. For parents, that means confidence that a shirt will hold its shape through the year, that pants will withstand both the classroom and the playground and that uniforms can be worn proudly, even if passed on to another child.

At the same time, PepClo, as part of the Pepkor Group, has aligned its design philosophy to a realistic measure of use: 30 washes as the minimum target for everyday essentials. A shirt washed twice a week for a full school year, or pants worn and laundered again and again, will meet that threshold. This balance ensures that clothes are designed for real life, where durability is both a luxury and a necessity.

Pepkor’s philosophy of ‘built to last a season’ anchors this approach. It recognises that children’s wardrobes move in cycles of growth and schooling, where durability is measured in school terms and milestones rather than fleeting trends. Setting a 30-wash minimum, and achieving the 45-wash benchmark on core items like school shirts and pants, ensure that garments meet both the expectations of families and the demands of sustainability.

Designing for a season is about aligning clothing with the realities of family life. In this way, durability becomes both an economic and an environmental asset, reducing waste, extending product life and proving that responsibility in fashion does not have to carry a premium price tag. PEP’s schoolwear demonstrates that affordability and sustainability are not opposing forces, but partners, stitched into the everyday essentials that South African families rely on with pride.