Wage Negotiations Eddels: Reduced pairage, more optimism

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA – After 3 months under new ownership, Eddels has settled into a routine which will hopefully lead it into sustainable profitability, new GM Steven Jacobs said last week.
      “This is a business in distress, and we’re not trying to hide it,” he said, “but as big as the challenges are, there are also opportunities.”
      Production has been scaled back further. By the time of the takeover, production had dropped to 1 500 pairs/day of mixed leather and synthetic, formal and casual, men’s, women’s and children’s footwear. Now, it’s 450 pairs/day of men’s formal leather footwear. Staff numbers have dropped from around 300 to 108.
      “We think that’s the right level at the moment,” he said. “The optimistic estimate is that we can turn this business around in 6 months. I would say 2 years would be closer to the mark.”
      Eddels was bought by Johannesburg-based Caralli Footwear – itself part of a bigger group – and Caralli specialises in formal men’s leather footwear.
      “We have experience in this industry,” Jacobs said, “and we have a lot of very talented people trying to make this business work to the point where it can run itself.
      “We’re not going to try to double production this year. We can look at that, and at diversifying production, when it’s stable.”
      He said reducing the staff had been a difficult decision, but that “if we’d kept everyone, the business would have failed – the intention is that as and when we grow, we’ll bring those people back. Where else would we find those skills?”
      Management cuts were proportionately greater; Chris Paul has been promoted to production and planning manager, Richard Starmer is now design and technical manager. Among his other inputs, Caralli MD and group shareholder Samet Karali oversees the original Eddels team of agents.
      Jacobs, an actuarial science graduate who was working for the group in Germany, was brought back to run Eddels. “I’ve had footwear experience with the group, but mostly on the retail side,” he said.
      “We’re selling to a mix of chains and independents, and that’s the way we want to keep it,” he said. “One thing we’ve noticed is that there has been a shift by retailers to source more leather footwear locally.”