Clothing & Textiles
KwaZulu-Natal’s textiles and clothing sector continues to be a very important employer.
Although the textiles and clothing sector is not as powerful a component of the provincial economy as it once was, there is still significant production capacity within KwaZulu-Natal, there is considerable diversity within the sector and many people are employed in it.
For some time, all South African textiles and clothing producers have been struggling to compete with cheaply produced goods from China and elsewhere. The South Africa Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union claims that 70 000 jobs have been lost in the sector in South Africa since 2003. The global economic downturn exacerbated bad conditions and some woven textile manufacturers had to close down.
Frame Vertical Pipeline, a division in the Seardel group, was a high-profile victim in 2009, with approximately 1 400 workers losing their livelihoods when the factory closed down.
The provincial government announced that R30-million had been set aside in the 2010/11 budget to implement a provincial Clothing and Textile Revitalisation Strategy through which 19 hubs would be created to support 141 co operatives.
Industry sources quoted by Engineering News suggest that the non-woven sector has a better chance of success because China has not entered that market. It was reported in early 2010 that the town of Hammersdale would receive an injection of R75-million into a needle-punch plant through a partnership which included a Danish company (Fibertex) and the Danish Industrial Fund for Developing Countries.
Other partners in the project, which will make fabric for the engineering sector, are South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and local company Safyr. The 3 500-squaremetre factory is expected to start operating in 2010. Fibertex is a global leader and has a sales office in Pinetown. Its distribution company is Geotextiles.
Two international safety-footwear firms operate out of Pinetown: Beier and Bata Industrial. Pietermaritzburg is also known as a centre for carpet manufacture, with Belgotex Floorcoverings having the largest facility in the southern hemisphere at 155 000 square metres. Irish manufacturer Ulster Carpets has a factory in Durban.
The KwaZulu-Natal Clothing and Textile Cluster (KZNCTC) has established a Sector Business Support Centre in Newcastle, aimed at regenerating the area’s clothing and textile industry. The KZNCTC lists the benefits of clustering as generating a critical mass of resources, shared learning, supporting the rapid diffusion of ideas, collective action and risk sharing, reduced costs and enhanced ability to compete on a global platform.
