Future of SA Textiles – the Burning Questions

Gelvenor CEO, Dicky Coetzee recently had the privilege of being guest speaker at a South African Dyers & Finishers Association meeting at the Westville Country Club. The talk was attended by astute industry professionals and management from the Durban Institute of Technology. In his address, Dicky covered key problem areas facing the SA textile industry as well as the history and current status of this market sector.

Dicky also covered the decline of textiles in South Africa and possible solutions to rebuild the industry. These solutions have been presented to government and are currently under consideration.

Gelvenor CEO, Dicky Coetzee and South African Dyers & Finishers Association KZN Chairperson, Heidi Dinan.

The Way Forward

C6 audits were done on 170 textile companies across SA. The audits yielded information on turnover, total employees, and costs within each company, the amount of product sold, revenue, tender sales and capacity. The information serves as a platform for policy makers to better understand the textile sector, and the data collected provides a baseline to show any future changes in the industry.

Dicky believes that government and the textile industry will need to work together strategically to rebuild the sector in South Africa. This can be achieved by focusing on fair trade practices, value chain formation and international exposure with a strong focus on exports. The Southern African Sustainable Textile and Apparel Cluster and the Textiles & Clothing Development Council are already working together in a bid to improve the industry’s competitiveness. All of these efforts, coupled with SARS responsibility to assist with restricting illegal fabric and garment imports, will go a long way in rebuilding SA’s textile sector.