Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – L. Cohen Outfitters Est 1912 was the first independent in Wynberg to acquire the Nike brand, a situation that we held for a number of years before Nike's policy changed to supplying numerous stores in close proximity.

Those were the good years.

The World didn't end when they advised that they would be terminating our contract (to be fair they gave us two and a half years notice). In a way I benefitted, in that I was relieved of the constant pressure of committing to orders and large monthly monetary settlements to maintain the status quo.

I have, since, adequately "filled the gap" by stocking more economic-friendly lines which in today's climate is working out to be more viable.

Over the last few years and especially after the Covid scare, the business climate has had a distinct downturn internationally and I am, therefore, not surprised that brands like Nike have suffered accordingly.
 

According to a report from Agence France-Presse (AFP), the South Korean Government has accused online retailer Shein of selling products, including leather handbags, belts and children’s shoes, containing toxic chemicals. The report reads:

Children's products sold by the Chinese-founded online shopping giant Shein contained toxic substances in amounts hundreds of times above acceptable levels, the government of South Korea's capital Seoul said Tuesday.
Shein, headquartered in Singapore, has skyrocketed in popularity around the world in recent years, offering a vast selection of trendy clothes and accessories at stunningly low prices.
This explosive growth has also led to increased scrutiny of its business practices and safety standards, including in the European Union and South Korea - where Seoul authorities have been conducting weekly inspections of items sold by platforms including Shein, Temu and AliExpress.

In the latest round, they selected eight products sold by Shein, including children's shoes, leather bags and a belt and found several to contain high amounts of phthalates - chemicals used to soften plastics.
One pair of shoes contained 428 times the permitted levels of phthalates - the highest observed so far during the Seoul inspections - and three bags had amounts as high as 153 times the limit, the city government said.
Phthalates are widely used to soften plastic and are found in thousands of products including containers, beauty products and toys. However, they have been known for decades to cause hormone disruptions and have been linked to obesity, heart disease, some cancers and fertility problems.

Seoul city official Park Sang-jin told AFP that they have requested a removal of these products from sale, and said that since the city began inspections in April, most platforms have complied with such requests.
AFP has reached out to Shein for comment. So far, Seoul authorities said they have inspected 93 products and found that almost half of them contained toxic substances. These items include children's watches and colouring pencils.
Last month, the European Union added Shein to its list of digital firms that are big enough to come under stricter safety rules - including measures to protect customers from unsafe products, especially those that could be harmful to minors.
Shein and Temu have followed Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba in challenging Amazon, especially by making inroads in the US market.

“From this we can conclude that product coming into South Africa is no different and for that matter from other equivalent online suppliers such as TEMU. This is very disturbing to read,” said Jirka Vymětal of SAFLIA. “I will be taking this up with Government.” 

Umhlanga, KZN, SA - Online retailers Temu and Shein are undercutting local retailers in part because they’re not paying all the tax on products they should be, SAFLIA executive director Jirka Vymĕtal said on Friday.

“Investigating their products, we discovered that SARS has a standard import duty on small parcels of 20%,” he said. “The minimum duty on footwear is 30%.

“On top of that, there’s no VAT. So the government is losing 25% in tax, and local retailers are being undercut by the same amount. Urgent intervention is needed.” 

Greg Bing, A.P. Jones
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Business is terrible.

We have had a very warm and dry May, and a shop full of jerseys and other warm winter ware, and that has had a major impact on our trade. Only in the last 48 hours has it started getting cold and wet.

There has been a lot of scepticism about the elections, and combined with the weather, people have gone into their shells.

Kamlesh Chagan, American Clothing/The Vault
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Trade is shocking, and I don’t know quite what to put it down to – the elections? – people spending more on groceries?

What hasn’t helped is the very good weather until a couple of days ago.

Also, too much product in the marketplace, and the chains murdering the independents. They’re already on winter clearance sales, which doesn’t help us.

Online sales by Temu, Shein – offerings and prices affect the retailers.

Suppliers are only interested in businesses doing the numbers.

There’s no obvious silver lining, but hopefully the cooler weather will help sales of knitwear, jackets and so on.

However, we carry on. My father started this business in 1964/65, and I’ve been in it for 38 years.

Deepak Nathoo, Empiro
Durban, KZN, SA – Business is steady under tough conditions. The brands out of Europe that we have been stocking are now entering the market themselves, and we have to find alternative sources and brands.

The entire business model for independents has to change to stay relevant.

There has been a rise in mono-brand stores globally – here, London, anywhere else you go, you see the same brands on the high streets, and the independents have been pushed to the outskirts. Yes, they’re surviving, but we have to change. 

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Froggie Western Cape agent Desmond Swartz is leaving the footwear industry at the end of this month to go full time into the ministry. He is doing it with Froggie’s blessing.