South Africa boasts a wide variety of local fashion brands that envelopes all our cultural backgrounds. We have talented seamstresses, pattern makers and manufacturers that operate either as solo-entrepreneurs or employ various members from local communities.
Since the pandemic hit our shores, we have had to adapt and many women who had lost their employment due to business closures and employee cuts have had to create employment for themselves.
So, they started doing the following:
- Jewelry making
- Clothing manufacturing
- Leather crafts – Handbags, wallets, clutches, belts etc
- Custom printing businesses
- Hat making and more
Some have become so successful that they have been able to offer employment to their community, friends and family.
Now these mini-enterprises have a new threat to deal with…
Our social media newsfeeds are flooded with cheap brands that are not local. Their prices are in most cases unbeatably low as they target our South African broke pockets with their mass produced junk. And although we understand that not everyone can pay higher prices for clothing and other accessories, we do want to ask you to consider the quality of the item and whether the investment is ultimately worth it in the end.
These mega “low budget” manufacturing plants are not only killing local business in our beautiful country, but also our environment. Their items don’t last long and quickly end up on the rubbish dumps and other places where irresponsible dumpers feel like discarding their trash.
Your local manufacturer loves South Africa just as much as you do. Our waste is kept to a minimal and we try our best to re-use and upcycle where possible.
These giants might not be pumping our air full of pollution or killing our rivers directly, but they are ultimately responsible for the suffering our planet is enduring. Their focus is on quantity, not quality… and unfortunately when you push for quantities instead of quality the waste created by greed becomes unimaginable.
Another important factor to consider is that when you support a local business, that money stays inside the community. The business owner and their employees will be using that same money in their own communities thus improving local life in general.
We as local manufacturers do have more expensive pricing but there are legitimate reasons for it, like:
- Rental payments
- Electricity and Water bills
- Salaries
- Internet usage
- Insurances and pension payments
- Vehicle payments | Petrol/Diesel usage
- Replacing of machines and other items
- Stationary replenishing
This list can become very long thus I am only listing these for now.
Most business owners don’t even receive a decent salary from their businesses, but they make sure their employees are cared for and receive what they work for every month.
So in conclusion what I am asking is that before you place an order with a company outside our borders, please consider supporting our local small business first.
We need you to exist.
We need you to pay salaries.
We need you to help us improve the lives of our employees.
We need you to help us grow so we can employ more locals.
We need you be kind and see that we only have YOU in our hearts. Everything we do is with YOU in mind.
Everything we do, we do with you in mind.
Our fellow South Africans.
Like boerewors and rolls makes the perfect boerewors roll… we need you to help complete us so we can serve you.
From the heart,
Janie xxx
