Woven for the Finish – Mungo & The Otter Trail Run

The coastline between Nature’s Valley and Storms River is not gentle.

For most, the Otter Trail is experienced as a famous five-day hike through the Tsitsikamma National Park. The trail folds through indigenous forest, follows the edge of the Indian Ocean and crosses rivers, beaches and traverses dark coastal rock. There are steep climbs, technical descents and around 7,000 steps along the way.
Once a year, this stretch of the Tsitsikamma coastline becomes the course for the Otter TERREX Trail. The 42-kilometre race alternates direction each year, running either from Storms River to Nature’s Valley or back the other way.

For Mungo, it passes through familiar territory. Our weaving mill is just down the coast in Plettenberg Bay, and the Otter Trail has long held a particular place in the imagination of our team.

Some know it in their legs. Our MD, Dax, ran the race last year. Shelby from marketing is currently training to run it this year, while Danette from sales has completed it before. Others, including Lenore from design, our creative director Tessa and Craig from web, have walked the trail over five days.

Since 2021, we have woven custom Itawuli towels for the Otter’s podium finishers. Each edition takes on a different colourway, designed for the event and woven at our mill in Plettenberg Bay.

This year, the cloth travels beyond the podium.

Every runner who crosses the finish line will receive a custom Mungo kikoi, designed by Ray and inspired by the colours found along the route: the blue of the sea, the dark grey rocks and the warm tones of sunset along the coast.

The palette was translated into yarn, then warped, woven and finished under one roof at the Mungo Mill. The result is a useful piece of cloth for the beach, the trail or the journey home, and a small reminder of a very big day.