NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                 26 August 2002

CITY SUPPORTS PREMIER FASHION EVENT

The City of Cape Town recently supported the Nederburg South African Designer Collections, at GrandWest Casino, to assist in strengthening the links between Cape Town’s fashion, clothing, and textile industries and to ensure that the huge potential for accelerating exports and job creation is seized. The show was also a major opportunity to flaunt the city and its fashion and clothing industry internationally.

The four main objectives of the event were to create a platform for established designers, to nurture young talent in the design industry, to serve as a informative platform and to attract international interest from buyers to facilitate export and revitalise the clothing and textile industry in South Africa.

“At the moment, Cape Town designers are not exporting major volumes due to a range of constraints,” said Rae Wolpe, Manager, Trade Promotion for Economic Development, Tourism and Property Management of the City of Cape town.

“The reasons being lack of access to local textiles in smaller quantities (the textile firms produce large quantities primarily for export), the designers’ lack of basic business and export skills and the weak links between Cape Town’s designers and clothing manufacturers.”

However, there is, substantial scope to promote enhanced co-ordination between the fashion, clothing, and textile industries, in order to ensure an increase in exports as well as to create many permanent jobs. Clotex, a clothing and textile service centre, has been set up in the Western Province to aid the growth of the industry and to facilitate access to information, advice, trade contracts and training opportunities as well as counselling for SMMEs in the industry, with emphasis on the needs of emerging and formerly disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

Currently, clothing and textile exports from the Western Province total R3,5 billion per annum and the industry formally employs over 200 000 people.

Clothing is the most labour intensive manufacturing sector, creating about 19 new direct and indirect jobs for every additional R1 million in exports.

An estimated 17 000 export-related clothing jobs can be created in the Western Cape between 2002 and 2005 if the value of exports grows at 30% per year according to the Western Cape Joint Marketing Initiative Trade Promotion Strategy.

Clothing and textiles designed and manufactured in South African are exported to markets, such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the European Union and it is hoped that this event will help to swell these numbers and put South African fashion on the international map.

“These fashion buyers are realising that South Africa can offer very high quality fashion at highly competitive prices and offer numerous competitive advantages, such as talented designers and supportive technical training institutions, excellent quality, efficient financial systems, efficient infrastructure and trade agreements,” said Wolpe.

The event functioned as a niche trade and investment fair, showcasing the very best in South African fashion design to an international market and the event organisers secured international fashion buyers from France, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, as well as international fashion media, such as French Vogue, Vogue Milan, Avante Garde Holland and Fashion TV as guests.

“On the whole, this event was a great opportunity to further boost and promote Cape Town’s fashion and clothing industry to the international market,” he said.

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