INDUSTRY FOCUS: FASHION
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Time for South Africa to follow India’s nation-first manufacturing procurement campaign with a ‘Make in South Africa’ strategy? Philippa Rodseth, Executive Director for Manufacturing Circle sounded a sympathetic message recently, saying that at its current stage of development, South Africa’s manufacturing’s contribution to the GDP should be double the current 14%. And Chief Director of Economic Research and Policy Coordination at the Department of Trade and Industry, Mr Nkosiyomzi Madula, has weighed in urging South Africans to take responsibility to grow the economy through buying locally produced products. It’s a theme that finds a forceful ally in John Comley, joint CEO of two of the
country’s most successful surviving independent companies, Kwa-Zulu Natal-based Eddels Shoes and Celrose Clothing. MANUFACTURING CRUCIAL FOR SA “Manufacturing and great manufacturing companies are vitally important for the future of this country,” says Mr Comley. “We need manufacturing to get back to 25% of our GDP contribution. “Yet ironically every year we are seeing manufacturing shedding jobs and becoming a smaller part of the GDP contribution, and all the time unemployment growing. You can’t talk about unemployment levels of 27% in this country. It mustn’t happen or the country will burst.” Famous for brands such as John Drake, QC, Riccardo, Aeroflex
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and Freedom, Pietermaritzburg shoe manufacturer and marketer Eddels has been providing South African consumers with quality footwear for over one hundred years. Celrose, operating in Tongaat near Durban since 1975, was the clothing manufacturing arm of the Edcon retail group until 2006 when Edcon divested and John Comley, Eddels CEO and one of Edcon’s most successful suppliers, was brought in as Celrose’s new CEO. Since then, advanced technology combined with professional management and extensive computerisation have established Celrose as one of the most modern garment producers in the world, with products ranging from men’s trousers to ladies tops and with fabric variations from chiffon and cotton, to knits and twill. “Back in 2006, Celrose had an annual turnover of some R98 million and had been losing substantial money every year. Last year, 2015, that figure was around R375 million and Celrose has been turned into a profitable business,” says Comley. FAST FASHION LEADS THE WAY Eddels Shoes’ business model is based on ‘fast fashion’, a relatively new concept in the industry. The result is rapid production of cost-efficient fresh products in response to fast-changing consumer tastes in as near real-time as possible, and drawing consumers back to the retail experience for successive visits. Mr Comley joined Eddels as production manager in 1987, working his way through the ranks to Production Director and eventually General Manager and Managing Director. Then in 1997 together with his management team, he bought the business out when SA Breweries began selling its non-core assets. “Most people at the time thought I was crazy, wondering why I would buy a shoe manufacturing business that had to compete against China.