Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA – Leather men’s footwear manufacturer Evané Footwear has kept to its business model of supplying only independent retailers and wholesalers, member Raffique Shah said last week.

“Supplying chains would mean switching to synthetics and supplying much bigger volumes,” he said. “Leather footwear has become much more of a luxury item, and we’ve had to reduce production to 300 pairs/day with a 4-day week – not the levels I would like to be at – but we are now a niche manufacturer, and there’s some security in that.”

He said Evané would review its strategy for next year. 

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – The founders of Veldskoen Shoes, Ross Zondagh and Nick Dreyer, have both resigned from the company and have set up a new business which will concentrate on promoting South African made products in North America and Europe.

Dreyer resigned in August, Zondagh in September, following court cases in February and June between them and Veldskoen Shoes as the respondents, and Adrian Moors, the Dorothea Charlotte Moors Family Trust, and Hendrika Zondagh as applicants, which led to the calling up on loans and Veldskoen Shoes being placed under business rescue.

“We found it impossible to continue at Veldskoen,” Zondagh said, “but this hasn’t affected our belief in South African manufacturing and South Africa as a brand capable of generating euphoria globally.

“We’ve started a new business, trading as Made In RSA, to help South African brands which are doing well here to break into the US and the EU, especially.

“We spent 8 years developing Veldskoen, and we’ve paid our school fees. We don’t have the overheads of Veldskoen, and most of the Veldskoen staff have joined us. We feel we’re in a unique position to assist good manufacturers of quality products.” 

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Reebok is returning to sport, “and that’s the big news about the brand”, according to Peter-John ‘PJ’ Morilly, Reebok head of brand and sales at Bounty Apparel.

Globally, Reebok belongs to Authentic Brands Group, which bought it from Adidas in 2022, and shortly thereafter appointed the Bounty Brands Group subsidiary as its Southern Africa distributor.

“In the early 2000s Reebok was taken out of team sports to specialise in fitness, with CrossFit being a key authenticator in the space,” he said. “Reebok has a rich sports heritage in team sports like basketball and football, categories which can yield big commercial returns. The transition from subsidiary to distributor hasn’t been easy, but the confidence in the marketplace for the brand is back.”

He said it was already in basketball, golf and padel, and that it would launch football in 2026 Q3 and tennis in Q4. “From a local point of view, we’ll pursue football, rugby and basketball as grassroots level.”

Morilly headed the brand at Adidas SA. Thereafter he spent 2 years in Dubai before returning to head up Reebok at Bounty. 

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – Below are the names of the 65 entities that submitted bids for National Treasury: Transversal Contracting bid number RT59-2026 for the supply and delivery of footwear and leather products to the State for the period of 36 months. The bid closing date was 19 September.

Name of bidder/s 1 Allumer Environmental 2 Aludar Est 1984 (Pty) Ltd 3 Asakawu Technologies 4 Bondirite CC 5 Bonram Talent Management Pty Ltd 6 Bookize Supply Corporation CC 7 Bright MM Holdings 8 Cashwear (Pty) Ltd 9 De Solly Trading 10 Dick Whittington Shoes (Pty) Ltd 11 Donga Vuka (Pty) Ltd 12 Dugule (Pty) Ltd 13 Dzimelela Enterprise PVT Ltd 14 Eurosafe Mining and Industrial 15 Fred Footwear 16 Hamisa Safety Equipment 17 Haoleteng Trading (Pty) Ltd 18 Hle and Libs (Pty) Ltd 19 House of Nosi (Pty) Ltd 20 Ikemetse Consulting and Projects (Pty) Ltd 21 Jomenjo Trading Enterprise 22 Jones Security and Projects 23 Kgallo Cleaning and Maintenance 24 La Ponto Trading and Business Solutions Pty Ltd 25 Lacrumbs Trading and Projects 26 Luvholela Business Consultants 27 Macnet Investment 28 Makenzo Group of Companies (Pty) Ltd 29 Masi Workwear (Pty) Ltd 30 Mavenu Consultants (Pty) Ltd 31 Mawewe Trading Solutions 32 Megaphase Trading 380 (Pty) Ltd 33 Mimi Trucking (Pty) Ltd 34 Mizuku General Trading and Projects (Pty) Ltd 35 Mkateko Resources 36 Mlungisi and Sons Solutions 37 Mochochonono Group (Pty) Ltd 38 Mohlabe Multi Trade Distribution 39 Mzanzi Group (Pty) Ltd 40 PB Creations 41 Queen of Sheba Textiles and Design (Pty) Ltd t/a QS Safety (Pty) Ltd 42 Ra2s Solutions (Pty) Ltd 43 Right Start Trading and Projects (Pty) Ltd 44 Saddler Belts and Leathercraft (Pty) Ltd 45 Senzangakhona Industrial Supplies Property Limited 46 Shali Safety Protection Hub & Projects (Pty) Ltd 47 Sunay Trading 240 48 Sunday Kit Uniform Supplies CC 49 Sunfrica (Pty) Ltd 50 T P Solutions Trading and Construction 51 TGA Group (Pty) Ltd 52 THD Projects (Pty) Ltd 53 The Thelz Heights 54 Thusani Corporate Solutons 55 Tinthlarhi Steel Constructions CC 56 Tselangoe Projects 57 Tshifaro Business Enterprise 58 Tshisimani Holdings (Pty) Ltd 59 Tuscany Manufacturing Enterprise (Pty) Ltd 60 Uhambo Safety Wear and Equipment 61 Unipro Protective Wear (Pty) Ltd 62 Varagon Solutions 63 Versal Resources 64 Virgored Group (Pty) Ltd 65 Yoanda Consulting and Projects 

Umhlanga, KZN, SA – SAFLIA’s application to the International Trade Administration (ITAC) to increase the minimum duty on most imported footwear, from R5/pair to R20/pair, and in the case of safety footwear, to R50/pair, is still “in the process”, according to SAFLIA executive

director Jirka Vymĕtal, speaking last week.

After 4 years of research and negotiation with ITAC, SAFLIA first made the application to cover 27 tariff lines on 29 March this year, and on 02 April asked that the 8 tariff lines covering safety footwear be subject to the R50/pair rate.

“I just keep on making a nuisance of myself,” he said. “I was approaching my contact once a week, now it’s fortnightly.

“It would be really good to get some finality about this. Many of our members – and the unions – keep pressurising me to find out. It’s more than important – it’s vital, and it’s been going on for a very long time.”

When S&V approached ITAC for comment in July, it said it “aims to finalise its ordinary customs duty tariff amendment investigation within a six-month period”, followed by recommendations to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.