Neimil, the Johannesburg label stitching African stories into clothes and cushions
Started by two people with day jobs in 2018, the brand makes everything in-house and cut for African bodies. Next stop: a showcase in Paris.
Johannesburg — When Keneilwe Mothoa was retrenched from the Edcon group in 2020, she took it as a sign. She threw herself into Neimil, the fashion and homeware brand she had registered two years earlier with her partner, Lubabalo Mxalisa, Daily Maverick reports.
How it grew
- Neimil began with cushions and artworks made from wool and yarn, and took off during the Covid-19 pandemic, when people were spending more time at home and investing in their living spaces.
- Its Batho scatter cushion, tufted by hand with silhouettes of people gathered together and made in collaboration with H&M, became the piece that defined the brand.
- The name joins Mothoa's nickname, "Nei", with "mil", for her minimalist approach.
Made in Johannesburg
Factories wanted bigger minimum orders than a small brand could place, so Neimil brought production in-house and trained its own staff. All its garments are now made in Johannesburg and cut for African body shapes, using hard-wearing fabrics such as denim, with colours drawn from the land of Mpumalanga, where Mothoa grew up. Mothoa questions whether high-volume production is worth its cost and argues for keeping handwork alive; she also rejects the idea that African design has a single look.
Neimil is part of Création Africa 2, a seven-month incubation programme run by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the French Embassy and the French Institute of South Africa for cultural entrepreneurs in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi. The brand plans to show its work in Paris this year, and Mothoa hopes it will one day have its own shop and become a leading name for African craft and design.
Source: Daily Maverick, reporting by Aneesa Adams, 16 October 2026.
