Durban, KZN, SA – Reunion Footwear had a slow start to the year, as did most local shoe manufacturers, with elections slowing the retail trade.

However, the second half picked up nicely and in particular our Angelsoft sandal production increased to 600 pairs per day and the brand/product is growing nicely year-on-year. 

Durban, KZN, SA - While local footwear manufacturing has dropped by 15% from January to August, footwear imports have risen by almost 35% in the same period, according to Jirka Vymĕtal, executive director, Southern African Footwear & Leather Industries Association.
“Imports this year to August were up, year on year, by 34.5% to 114 725 592 pairs, versus 85 312 624 pairs for the same period in 2023,” he said.

The FOB value of the imports rose 30% from R8 648 484 056 to R11 249 817 908, but the average price per pair of the imports dropped from R101.37 to R98.06 in the same period.

With the upswing in local production leading up to December, he expected total production to be 12.5% down on last year – which was itself down on 2022.

“Imports are getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper,” he said. “When there’s a discussion ‘in principle’ about buying locally, the chains will say importing isn’t just about price; they’ll mention factors like quick response sampling, new trends, new colours, etc.

“But when I talk to manufacturers who’ve negotiated with most chains, they say the first reaction is that their prices are out. The only thing they really care about is price.

“Bearing that in mind, SAFLIA and the unions have jointly engaged to find a way forward on this pricing issue. It seems apparent that some consensus for special dispensation has been discussed and has almost reached finality.” 

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA - South Africa will again have a source of locally made synthetic upper material when a new PU coating plant comes on stream in a year’s time.

Unica Textile Mills SA, a division of the Unica Group, is setting up its second manufacturing facility which will house its fully integrated PU plant.

“The state-of-the-art facility will conservatively have a monthly production capacity of 450 000 meters”, MD Amir Qasim said last week. “This will be a relief for the footwear industry, which has been finding it a challenge to stabilize its supply chain, due to limited or no local production of the material.”

The division currently produces PVC coated fabrics for tents and tarps, pool covers and industrial applications under its Polyvic brand.

He said that the group plans to bring in the latest technology from the leading manufacturer of PU plants in India. The plant will be capable of producing “all types” of PU fabrics, including embossed and printed materials.

The project is expected to be completed by November 2025. The group has recently acquired a 26 000 m² property for the facility, and the project team is working to meet the project deadline.

He said that Unica is also considering setting up a production line for its own knitted base fabric, as phase 2 of the project, further localising the contents of the material.

“We’ll start by producing materials for the footwear industry, then expand into furniture and automotive fabrics,” he said.

The Unica group was founded in 1999, and aims to locally produce all of its products. Currently the group has a staff complement of 800 employees which will rise to over 1 000 with the PU coating project.

The other 2 divisions of the group are Unica Iron & Steel, which is a secondary steel producer of light to medium structural steel, used in the construction industry and other industrial applications, and Unica Plastic Moulders, which produces moulded plastic products covering a wide market spectrum from furniture to packaging solutions. 

Bloemfontein, Free State, SA - The Free State is taking strain economically and politically.

If the “platteland“ (agriculture) suffers, we feel it in retail in Bloemfontein.

Bloemfontein has got a big middle class economy, but they’re also battling.

But in spite of that, business has been fair.

Our coastal branches – Knysna, George and PE – are doing exceptionally well.

For Black Friday and the festive season, we focus more on major and small appliances and electronics and we are gearing ourselves for a good November and December. 

David Fox, Choice Clothing
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - It’s been a pretty tough year for most retailers, I think – a weak Rand and cash-strapped consumers. Our Black Friday promotion will run from 21st November to 3rd December, with specials every day. The merchandise will be across the board – T-shirts, jeans, footwear. It will be a pretty even split between product we specially bought for Black Friday and stock we want to move. December is always our best trading month, and we expect it to help make up for the poorer months.

Kim Cunniffe, Kingsmead Shoes
Durban, KZN, SA - Tough year, winter was late, elections had people holding back before the vote.

June was good after the formation of the new government but since then, July to September have been tough. October, we have started seeing some positivity which has continued though to November.

No load shedding has helped with costs, the extra added to rentals for generators was a bitter pill to swallow.

GNU – June was good but thereafter reality sank in.

Shipping is still a major issue, makes it hard to plan.

Black Friday will be more around the day/weekend, downplayed in relation to previous years.

Festive Season, we are hoping the positive sales we have been seeing in the last few weeks, run though into the Xmas season