Fashion has a habit of rewarding the loud and the fast. Luke Radloff is neither.
The founder and creative director of Uni Form has spent his career doing the harder, quieter thing: building a label rooted in craft and community, in a country where the fashion industry receives precious little institutional support.
After training at Lisof and spending 14 years in the European industry, Radloff returned home to Joburg and launched Uni Form in 2019. The brand’s philosophy is as precise as its tailoring: slow fashion, made to order, and local.
Operating from a small atelier in Parktown, he has since been named GQ’s Top Designer of the Year and awarded the Nicholas Coutts Artisanal Fashion Award. In 2023, he became the first laureate of the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation x Orveda residency programme. He would resist the word visionary. We’ll use it anyway.
Where do we find you creatively and emotionally?
I turned 40 last year, and there was something very liberating about it. I find myself at a point where the potential feels limitless, and I think it only comes from hitting rock bottom. [As] you slowly start to come out of that, you also realise that things can only get better. I’m finally proud of myself and proud of my friends, and that, of course, pours into my work as well. I’ve let go of a lot of the constraints I had placed on myself in my work that I didn’t even know were there … I’ve had to let go of that concept that you’re taught when you’re young of what success is or what a happy life looks like. Now I feel a little bit more at ease, so I hope that continues.
If money were no object, what would your dream buy be?
I am obsessed with the vintage Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 or something older, like a Triumph.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
I’m quite shy and not always that sociable, but this work forces you to interact and meet people and, generally, [those] we come across through this work are just interesting, fascinating, lovely people. It’s rewarding.
Your favourite city/destination?
London.
What is a driving factor for you right now?
Time and health. In today’s world, there’s no time for anything, and with our work, we’re constantly trying to slow that down to make responsible work that’s rooted in authenticity. And without health, there’s nothing. So, if we’re blessed with good health, [we need to] maintain it and just respect it.
What are your essential grooming products?
Palmer’s Cocoa Butter, and when I can afford it, Orveda’s The Vital Sap.
What are you reading/listening to right now?
I just bought Indlu Yesibane [photo book by Chulumanco Makuluma]. It’s by a local bookbinder, Pulp Editions — when the interns leave, they create these books. The artist is from the Eastern Cape and I’m from there as well, [so it’s] familiar and very intimate and beautiful. In terms of referencing, the top books are Azzedine Alaïa, Couturier and Collector [exhibition catalogue], Alaïa Afore Alaïa and Voice-Overs: Wits Writings Exploring African Artworks, which is all about indigenous local craft. [Music-wise], I’ve discovered this Brazilian artist called Antônio Carlos Jobim.
What’s one misconception people have about being a designer?
That it’s glamorous, that we are running around with chiffon all day long, and that it’s just easy. I’m not just a fashion designer. I’m also a founder of a business. Only about 1% of my day is spent designing. The rest is actually running the business and managing people.
What is the one indulgence you would never forgo?
Coffee.
Your all-time favourite places to eat?
Che Argentine Grill in Parktown. It’s the most romantic restaurant in Joburg. If you go and it’s not raining, you can sit out in the courtyard, and it’s magical.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Relax.
Something you always return to for inspiration?
Art and cinema.
Your favourite way to spend a Sunday morning?
It has to involve coffee and eggs. At the moment, I’m really into eggs, so a good coffee and a straight omelette at Saint Germain, 44 Stanley.
Your dream dinner guests?
My grandmother has passed, so it would be great to have another dinner with her. There are so many fascinating people in the world, but I [believe in the saying] “don’t meet your heroes”, so I’d rather just have dinner with my friends.
What are your ultimate luxuries?
Time, money and health.
What is something you recently unlearned or let go of in your creative process?
I’ve learned that 99% of my time is going to be working with people, so [I need] to make sure that I’m able to communicate in a way that gets everyone aligned. It’s such a collaboration.
The most challenging aspect in your work the past year?
The same as always — making sure that what we put out in the world is of a certain standard.
Your most treasured possession?
An artwork by Gabrielle Sampson from her graduate collection at Michaelis, where she won the painting prize. It’s a gigantic painting of a chair, and I’m obsessed with chairs.
What is a great gift you received recently?
My friend gifted me a beautiful hand-crafted wooden chair, which is now in the fitting room, and I was gifted an incredible handcrafted stool from Kevin Frankental of Lemon Furniture.
Favourite scent?
As a fragrance, Perfumer H Salt, but one of my favourite smells is rosemary. It was the signature scent we used in the store.
What is the most exciting thing about working in the South African fashion industry right now?
With most places, there seems to be a look, but with the South African fashion industry right now, all the designers have such different points of view, and I love that eclecticism.
Who are your design icons?
When I was a student, my design icons were Yohji Yamamoto and Martin Margiela. Now I feel like my [design] icons are my peers in the South African fashion industry. I know what they’re going through [and] I respect that so much because I know how hard it is. Wanda Lephoto and Mmuso Maxwell are top of mind.
From the June issue of Wanted, 2026.
