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2016 S&V Newsletter No 16, April 25

S&V Footwear and Leather Goods / S&V African Leather

Please note: Click on any ad to go to the advertiser’s website

 

Footwear wage negotiations start today

Durban (SA) – The first round of wage negotiations for the Footwear section will be held at the Hilton Hotel today and tomorrow.
The second round of the General Goods & Handbags section will be held on May 10 and 11. At the end of their first round, unions NULAW and SACTWU had dropped their demands to 11.5%.

 

Cape Cobra plans retail outlets in UAE

Cape Town (SA) – Luxury leather goods manufacturer Cape Cobra Leathercraft expects its first offshore retail venture to begin rolling out this year, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), director and sales manager Richard Schäfer said last week.
It will be part of the company’s strategy to develop an international brand.
The consortium which has acquired the rights to retail the brand in the UAE will start with informal ‘trunk shows’, followed by stores-within-stores, and progress to stand-alone outlets, he said.
Cape Cobra was founded in 1972 by the present shareholders’ parents, supplying mostly local retail.
With the flight of wealth from the country in the 1980s – the same flight which killed off the country’s sheepskin garment manufacturing industry – it switched most production from its own brand to producing for several North American and European brands, including Lambertson Truex, Judith Leiber, Marchesa, and Cece Cord.
“Since the global recession in 2007, the luxury goods sector has been under pressure,” he said. “That was the stimulus for us to rebuild our own brand, and we started a programme to do that 5 years ago. Own brand manufacturing has increased substantially and is now about 60% of our production, and we see that increasing.”
He said there was growing retail demand for the Cape Cobra brand in North America, Europe and Japan, and a longer-term goal was to open brand stores in some of those areas.
He said the growth of a local crocodile tanning industry made local leather goods manufacturing more competitive. “We now only import classically-finished croc leather, which the local tanneries haven’t perfected – yet.”
The formation of the DTI-backed Exotic Leather Cluster, which groups crocodile farms, tanneries and leather goods manufacturers with the Exotic Leather Research Centre, made the local industry more sustainable. “Our last meeting was about the traceability and transparency of raw materials. That level of organisation is vital if we are to be a global player.” – [+27 (0)21 415 3440, richard@capecobra.co.za, www.capecobra.co.za]

 

 

Adidas preparing for new-look Reebok

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PJ Morilly & Part of the new Reebok showroom.

Cape Town (SA) – Reebok will move into Adidas SA’s offices when the current agency agreement expires and it becomes a division of the local company on July 1.
Adidas has set up 1 000 m² of new showrooms to be shared by Adidas, Reebok and the group’s golf brand, Taylor Made.
Reebok will be headed up by director brand marketing Peter John ‘PJ’ Morilly, along with a small team. Adidas will provide much of the infrastructure.
Adidas sales director Darren Cooke will also head sales for Reebok, which he views as “a fantastic challenge”.
They plan sweeping changes to Reebok in their region, which covers SADC and a number of other African states.
“Globally, Reebok has been very successful in fitness,” Cooke said. “Fitness will lead the way in our re-launch as we strive to reposition the brand in a limited number of doors initially.
“While fitness is the DNA of Reebok, we’ll also look to breathe new life into some of the iconic styles coming out of the lifestyle category ‘Classics’. There’s some amazing product in the global Reebok range that we look forward to introducing into our market.”
The change in direction will mean the end of most local footwear sourcing, which has concentrated on sandals.
They have been selling the new range for July-December delivery, and have approached all chain and most independent customers.
The exchange rate slide “has been one of our greatest challenges”, he said. “While the short- to medium-term forecast is that it will continue to be tough, we’re fortunate that we have excellent brand momentum currently, and we remain positive about the rest of the year.” – [+27 (0)21 442 6200, Darren.Cooke@adidas.com]

 

US footwear production up

Washington, D.C. – Domestic U.S. footwear & apparel production increased for the 5th consecutive year in 2014, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) newsletter of April 12. – [aafa@multibriefs.com]

 

 

 

Meet more than 200 African manufacturers and suppliers at Source Africa in June

Cape Town (SA) – Source Africa will once again include a two day trade exhibition (8 & 9 June), African country pavilions, informative business seminars, fashion shows and networking functions. It is exciting times for Africa as we prepare to take full advantage of the opportunities that will open up from the AGOA renewal. Source Africa 2016 will align itself to this important initiative as well as the other regional duty free trade preference agreements. Based on this, Source Africa continues to focus on its two core objectives –
• Demonstrate to regional and international buyers that African manufacturers can compete on price, quality, standards and reliability.
      • Grow trade between African countries.
  The Source Africa Trade Exhibition provides African manufacturers and suppliers an opportunity to promote their latest products and services to key decision makers and network with other industry and government players. Countries represented already include South Africa, Mauritius, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and Zimbabwe.
  To visit or exhibit, register online at www.sourceafrica.co.za. There is no entrance fee but pre-registration necessary. For more information, contact LTE – leaders in trade exhibitions on Tel: +27 21 790 5849, Email: deidre@sourceafrica.co.za

 

Milestones

Cape Town (SA) – Stuart Hopwood has been appointed as Group Head of Marketing of Bolton Footwear. Hopwood will be responsible for all marketing related activities for the respective brands in the Jordan & Co, Watson and Barker Shoes divisions. He will also oversee the marketing of the group itself.
A born and bred Capetonian, Hopwood holds a Diploma in Marketing Management (Dip Mkt. Man) from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and a professional qualification of Chartered Marketer, CM (SA), which he obtained in 2000.  “I’ve gained excellent knowledge and insight into the industry over the last three decades. Some of the key highlights of my career include eight years in various marketing management roles at Yardley, twelve years as Marketing Director for Triumph International (lingerie) and more recently six years as Brand President and GM for Speedo.
“I really look forward to my new challenge at Bolton Footwear...we hope to create a powerhouse of footwear brands for the group.
“The advent of social media has been a major change in the industry. It has created the greatest opportunity as we can now communicate directly with our customers and measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing efforts.”

 

 

ABSA Agri Trends 12/04: Hides & skins prices

The average hide price traded higher over the past week at R14.21/kg green. Hide prices are determined by the average of RMAA and independent companies.
The average price for Dorper skins was the same at R64.55/skin and Merino 12.8% higher at R99.17/skin.
The average price for ostrich skins dropped 0.88% to R1486.14.
Ostrich raw meat exports dropped 1.47% to R41.47/kg. Heat treated meat dropped 1.32% to R31.51, and domestic meat sales stayed the same at R11.61.

Hide & skin price progression
Date Hides/Kg Dorper/Skin Merino Skin Ostrich/skin
27/11 13.11 78.75 71.11  
15/01 13.45 83.13 84.89  
22/01 13.79 82.50 79.79  
29/01 13.93 84.44 79.17  
05/02 14.18 79.00 85.37 1590.25
12/02 14.35 79.17 93.27 1554.18
23/02 13.76 76.50 96.02 1561.59
01/03 14.09 68.93 94.00 1558.90
08/03 14.20 67.50 93.29 1550.67
18/03       1520.66
25/03       1508.65
29/03 13.85 63.85 88.37  
01/04       1499.35
05/04 14.15 64.55 87.92  

 

Ostrich meat price progression
Date Exports Heated Domestic
05/02 45.12 35.55 11.61
12/02 45.12 32.78 11.61
23/02 43.30 32.73 11.61
01/03 42.88 32.46 11.61
08/03 42.29 32.06 11.61
18/03 41.97 31.85 11.61
25/03 41.94 31.83 11.61
01/04 42.09 31.93 11.61

 

 

They Said It

"No, the reason we closed is because of high shop rentals, the water and lights, the increased price of goods. Cheap imports have also killed the industry. Quality clothing and footwear have become a luxury, our customers could not keep up with the increases, they found that paying for transport, school fees, food, is more important. I do hope things get better in the future." - Retailer Hemel Fakir, explaining the closure in January of Zurich Outfitters, in Durban’s CBD.

 

Birthdays this week

25/04/1963: Neil Barnes, Millbrook Trading, Durban.
25/04/1971: Clinton Cloete, Bagshaw Footwear, Port Elizabeth.
25/04/1961: Marcelle Kurth, emigrated, formerly Corbeau, Cape Town.
25/04/1955: Maryrose Lesalaisa, Cee Dee Footwear, Johannesburg.
26/04/1965: Faizel Jeewa, Traford Footwear, Durban.
26/04/1953: Rodney Hill, left the industry, formerly Prime Leathers, Pinetown.
26/04/1943: Juan Lichnovsky, retired, formerly Futura Footwear, Pinetown.
26/04/1964: Desmond Swartz, DS Agencies, Johannesburg.
27/04/1968: Wyatt Brodie, Polo SA, Johannesburg.
27/04/1964: Francois Strydom, Watson Shoes, Great Brak River.
27/04/1944: Kelly Smith, agent.
29/04/1951: Elizabeth Loubser, Bolton Group, Great Brak River.
28/04/1972: Serge Glowiczower, Lion’s Gate, Johannesburg.
28/04/1949: Malcolm Novos, Economic Shoes, Paarl.
30/04/1959: Gustav Franzsen, Vinaco, Cape Town.
30/04/1964: Hayley Roberts (nee Caro), Mr Price, Durban.
30/04/1946: Willi Angeloch, retired, formerly Nakara, Windhoek.
01/05/1932: George Wilkens, retired, formerly Martin Johnson [closed], Pietermaritzburg.
01/05/1961: Ronell Nieuwoudt, Suzi Q, Phalaborwa.
01/05/1962: Tanya Vosloo, Greystone Trading 387, Cape Town.

 

In Memoriam this week

26/04/2005: Bryan Dean (b. 09/01/1939), Amber Footwear [closed], Pietermaritzburg.
26/04/2012: Roy Eckstein (b. 22/10/1941), Reebok, Springfield, and Jaguar [closed], Durban.
30/04/2012: Ebrahim Aboo (b. 07/08/1948), MG Shoes [closed], Pietermaritzburg.

 

Trade Fair dates

For a list of local and international trade fairs covering footwear, leather goods, leather and PPE, visit our website: http://www.svmag.co.za/events.php

 


Classified Adverts

SALE OF BUSINESS

Well established business looking to sell retail operations, 2 stores plus online business and wholesale operations.

Email shikandhee@gmail.com for details


  

Contact us

News & Classifieds: Tony Dickson, +27 (0)31 209 7505, tony@svmag.co.za

Next newsletter: Due to the public holiday on Monday, May 2, the next newsletter will be on May 3, 2016.

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Our website www.svmag.co.za
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