Clothing

In the textiles, clothing and leather sub-sector, which represents 15% of the manufacturing sector, textiles contributed 54% at R1.6-billion and clothing 27% at R0.8-billion are traditional sectors with a number of established operations. As well as supplying the domestic market, the manufacturing sector has an export bias and nearly a third of South Africa's manufactured exports originate in KwaZulu-Natal.

The textile industry is predicted to grow at 2, 4 percent with a growth in investment of 4, 3 percent a year. Approximately 60% of footwear (by volume) manufactured in South Africa takes place in this province. The textile sector is well developed, especially in Cotton and Cotton/Synthetic blended products. A wide variety of yarns, fabrics, home textiles and industrial textiles are manufactured.

The clothing sector is also well established, with three levels of manufacturers in KwaZulu-Natal. There are approximately 525 clothing firms, 416 of which are based in Durban, Pinetown, Inanda and Chatsworth. Of these, at least 320 are operations handling cut, make and trim.  Other participants are design houses and independent retailers who specialise in pre-production and distribution.

There are a few very large manufacturers, but the majority of clothing manufacturers fall into the medium sized category (50 to 200 employees) and there are approximately 400 SMME concerns, which fulfill the role of sub-contractors to the rest of the industry. This latter group also supplies the informal sector, which is growing rapidly.

The clothing sector is a significant employer within KwaZulu-Natal's manufacturing sector. This fact, coupled with the relatively low barriers of entry to the industry, makes it a very strategic industry for development purposes.  The labour-intensive nature is an important benefit of the industry for women labourers who comprise a large proportion of the manufacturing labour force.

A challenge is the Chinese clothing industry which has come to dominate the global market. The overall impact on the domestic industry has been the much publicised job losses and factory closures.

In February 2005 the DED launched the KwaZulu-Natal Clothing and Textiles Cluster (CTC). The CTC is a public/private partnership which aims to strengthen the local industry to ensure that it can compete in the global market. In addition CTC has successfully established a Sector Business Support Centre in Newcastle, aimed at regenerating the area's clothing and textile industry. The industry in Newcastle is comprised of both South African and Taiwanese/Chinese firms. The facilitation of local industry consultation successfully brought all chambers together to achieve the goal of improving the competitiveness of the local industry.

For more information on the CTC visit http://www.kznctc.org.za