Privacy & POPIA

Who is responsible for your information

The School Of Fashion (“we”, “us”) runs fashion design, pattern making and garment construction courses from Avondale, Parow, Cape Town. We are the responsible party for the personal information described here.

Our Information Officer is Rishka Samsodien, Founder and Head of School. You can reach her at info@schooloffashion.co.za or on (081) 330-8775 for anything to do with your information.

What we collect, and why

We do not collect your card number or banking details. Card payments are entered on Netcash’s own secure payment page and never pass through our website.

• Your name, email address and phone or WhatsApp number — so we can confirm your place and reach you about your class.
• Your sewing experience and preferred start month — so we place you on the right course at the right level.
• Order details when you enrol or buy studio supplies, including the amount paid and the reference — so we can take payment and keep the record.
• Your message when you use the contact form or email us — so we can reply to it.
• Photographs or video from classes, only where you have agreed to appear, for our own website and social media.

The lawful basis

• To run your enrolment, take payment and deliver your course — we need your details to perform our agreement with you.
• To answer an enquiry you have sent us — we rely on your having asked, and on our legitimate interest in responding.
• To keep financial and enrolment records — we are required to by tax and consumer law.
• To show photographs of classes — only with your consent, which you may withdraw at any time.

Who else processes it

We use a small number of service providers (“operators”). They process your information on our instructions and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes:

• Netcash and Payflex — card payments and instalment payments.
• Brevo — delivery of order confirmations and other email we send you.
• GoDaddy — the server that hosts our enrolment and payment system.
• Cloudflare — domain name service and email routing.
• Vercel — hosting for this website.
• WordPress and WooCommerce — the software behind our enrolment and checkout.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone else unless the law requires it.

Some of these providers process information outside South Africa, mainly in the European Union and the United States. POPIA allows this where the recipient is bound by laws or contractual terms that give your information protection comparable to POPIA, which is how our providers operate.

How long we keep it

• Enrolment and payment records — five years, because tax law requires it.
• Enquiry messages — up to twelve months after we have answered them.
• Marketing emails — until you unsubscribe or ask us to stop.
• Photographs and video — until you ask us to remove them.

Your rights

Under the Protection of Personal Information Act you may ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, object to us processing it, and withdraw any consent you have given. Ask the Information Officer above and we will respond within a reasonable time, and within thirty days for access requests.

If you believe we have handled your information unlawfully you may complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa: inforeg.org.za, complaints.IR@justice.gov.za, or 010 023 5200. You do not have to come to us first.

Security

This website and our enrolment system are served over HTTPS. Access to the enrolment system is limited to the people who need it, protected by strong passwords, two-factor authentication and a firewall that watches for intrusion attempts. Card details are never stored on our systems.

Children

If you are under eighteen, a parent or guardian must make the enrolment and give their consent, and their contact details are what we hold. We do not knowingly collect information from children without that consent.

Cookies

This website sets no advertising or analytics cookies. When you use the shop or the checkout, our enrolment system sets cookies that are strictly necessary to remember what is in your cart and to keep your session secure — those cannot be switched off without breaking checkout, and they contain no personal information beyond a session identifier.

If we add analytics or advertising tools later, we will ask for your consent first and update this policy.