Motor oil is not generally known for its contribution to fashion.
Engen just changed that, with the unveiling of Engen Engen Xtreme Kouture, a fashion collection inspired by the people who keep South Africa moving: the mechanics, spinners and petrolheads who have created one of the country’s most distinctive motoring cultures.
Smoke, spinning, tyres and fashion converged at Heat on the Street at Kwamagesh Spinning Arena on 10 October,
where Engen Xtreme Kouture was unveiled. The collection features an extraordinary range of garage-inspired
garments made from repurposed lubricant materials, including bottle caps, bottles and recycled corporate wear.
“What we normally regard as waste can become a resource when imagination is applied to it,” said Melissa
Graham, Engen Lubricants Marketing Manager.
“The aim wasn’t to make garage clothing look fashionable. It’s to acknowledge that the garage already has
fashion, identity, and attitude of its own. The collection turns the spotlight back onto the communities that
inspired it.”
From the garage to the garment
Engen commissioned Chicago-based South African artist, fashion designer and activist Carlo Gibson, who was
selected not simply for his aesthetic, but for an approach to design that has long explored sustainability, recycling,
upcycling and the cultural value of materials that others might overlook or discard.
According to Gibson, there is no perfect answer to sustainable fashion. “But we can buy less, choose more
consciously and expect our clothes to last longer. Fashion has spent years convincing us that newness is the point.
Maybe the more radical idea now is longevity.”
Fashion, automotive culture and self-expression come together
The collection draws inspiration from the people within South Africa’s automotive culture.
“Car culture has always had fashion in it. The way people customise a car, the colours they choose, the stance, the
wheels, the detailing, it is all self-expression,” says Gibson. “Street fashion works in much the same way. You take
familiar things and make them unmistakably yours.”
Adds Gibson: “That connection became really interesting for Engen Xtreme Kouture because the people who
inspired the collection, mechanics, spinners, tuners, shop stewards and petrolheads, already have their own visual
language. We weren’t trying to put fashion onto that culture. We were trying to recognise the fashion that was
already there and push it somewhere unexpected.”
Sustainability with a little rubber on it
The project also incorporated skills development, bringing a fashion design intern into the team for the full
garment-creation phase. This provided an opportunity to work directly alongside Gibson and gain hands-on
experience in bringing a major collection to life.
The garments were also produced with the support of a local team of seamstresses, ensuring that the making of
Engen Xtreme Kouture invested in local skills, craftsmanship and livelihoods, as well as local culture.
What's your hot take on this story?
“Sustainability has to work in the real world. That means looking at the entire ecosystem surrounding the brand:
lubricant packaging, workshops, mechanics, communities, education, waste and the long-term sustainability of
the independent automotive sector itself,” explains Graham.
Heat on the Street
The collection was unveiled against the energy and spectacle of Heat on the Street, bringing together two worlds
that have long shared a strong connection: automotive culture and personal style.
Spinning is as much about identity, creativity and self-expression as it is about cars, making it a natural platform
for a collection that challenges conventional ideas about where fashion materials come from.
“Like our products, spinning is all about performance, precision and durability. This is another exciting chapter for
Engen Xtreme as we continue to champion South African motoring culture,” says Graham.
“Engen is wholly committed to the motoring industry and to providing the highest-quality
products to our customers and communities. “Nothing embodies being proudly South African
quite like Engen Xtreme lubricants, and there is no more natural synergy for the brand than
the vibrant and performance-driven spinning community.
“Engen Xtreme. Xtremely South African Oil for SA’s Pros.”
Being made for South Africa’s pros means more than producing lubricants engineered for the
vehicles and conditions they work with every day. It means recognising the people,
celebrating the culture they have built and finding meaningful ways to invest in their
communities.
Adds Graham, “Engen Xtreme Kouture is about putting mechanics on the mood board,
putting spinners in the fashion conversation, turning discarded materials into something
desirable and investing in the skills and hands that make motoring culture possible.”
This approach forms part of Engen Xtreme’s Beyond Oil platform, which explores responsible
recycling, sustainability and ways of creating value beyond the brand’s products.
For Engen Xtreme, the collection represents another way of investing in the people behind
South Africa’s motoring culture.
“Being proudly South African means recognising the communities that make this industry
what it is,” adds Graham. “With Engen Xtreme Kouture, we are celebrating that creativity while
exploring what is possible when we look beyond the traditional life of a product.”
The collection will continue to make appearances across South African culture through
events, collaborations and other activations throughout the remainder of 2026 and into 2027.
#EngenXtremeKouture #EngenXtreme #EngenFashion #Spinning #SustainableFashion
