S&V Weekly Newsletter Vol.9 No.08, February 20 2023

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Vans changing distributors

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - Vans will move from Bounty Brands to Ares Holdings from the beginning of 2024. Bounty's Vans agents have been given notice, and at the time of writing had not been contacted by Ares.
      Bounty Group CEO Stefan Rabe said he expected Vans owner VF Corporation to issue a press release in the next 2 weeks, and intimated that he expected further details to be included.

Ceriani leaves BBF

Pinetown, KZN, SA - Former BBF Safety Group CEO Silvio Ceriani left BBF and major shareholder, the Beier Group, at the end of January. His position as CEO had been filled earlier by Brian Kuhnert.
      After 20 years with what was formerly Beier Safety Footwear and which evolved into BBF, he said: "It was a wonderful time, and I'm very grateful for it, but there comes a time when you have to move on." He said he was "exploring various options".

Order positions
We again asked a number of manufacturers and importers of footwear and leather goods to comment on their winter and summer order positions.
 

Mixed reports for winter, summer mostly positive

Dewald Visagie, Bolton Footwear
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - Thus far we are having a very positive reaction from our retailers regarding the rest of the year. We are seeing improved numbers compared to pre-covid.  Bolton is still in the process of converting our orders from a “made to order” to a “made to stock” model. This encourages our customers to buy from our stock availability on a daily basis through a rapid replenishment system on core styles instead of placing orders in advance.
      Our core brands are not season-specific and therefore we are launching styles on offer for the entire year. We are still facing some challenges in terms of raw material delays that have impacted our speed to market.

Hannelie Strauss, Camp Cover
Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - In general, we are blessed that we were able to diversify our production and service capacities and broaden our footprint in alternative industries (as opposed to our traditional outdoor, camping and offroad). But, of course, we still experience our conventional high/low seasons (for example, downward January and February, with high season September to December) but with less volatility, instability and fluctuations. We are experiencing an excellent January and February compared to other years - even pre-covid.
        The only thing in my mind currently affecting sales and my sanity is Eskom!

Mohamed Vanker, Tego Footwear
Durban, KZN, SA - Our retail customers - chains and mini-chains - are pushing back their winter orders, from February to March, March to April, and so on. They're saying retail is very quiet, and they're blaming load shedding. They say it's now a consumer mindset - even if they have generators, when the lights go off, the customers leave.
      They're also saying the illegal imports and street traders with counterfeit products are having a huge effect. they say a pair of counterfeit Nike has no effect on Nike because a Nike customer will buy a genuine product. But an aspirational customer, who can only afford lower prices, will buy a counterfeit from a street trader and not another lower-priced shoe from retail.
      For us, it's too early to talk about summer.

Brett Pengelly, Trailmix Trading
Durban, KZN, SA - For winter we have sold long boots, ankle boots and work shoes very well. We are hoping that sales are as good this winter season as they were for our customers last season. As most customers are starting to prepare to take in Winter stock in March and April, there is still plenty of warm weather around leading up to Easter weekend to sell some summer sandals.

Closed

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - Steve Dai has confirmed that men's footwear importer Bruce & Jason Trading Enterprises has closed. He said he wouldn't remain in South Africa.

They Said It

"Unfortunately the hat-trick of Covid, riots and floods put an end to Branded Goods Merchants, the trade we had built up in the previous ten years was destroyed in the last three.  We had to make a decision to keep funding or call it quits, I’d like to think that logically this was the right call!" - Paul Walsh, former member of Branded Goods Merchants, which marketed its own ranges of footwear and leather care products. He still runs commission agency business Paul Walsh Agencies.

New subscribers last week

Preshan, Sales, Palm Footwear, Durban, SA.

Got anything you'd like to share?

Do you have any suggestions, comments or experiences about the industry that you'd like to share with the industry? - tony@svmag.co.za

20/02/1959: Rashmi Kooverjee, Babu’s, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
20/02/1969: Dada Segwe, Bontsho Bosweu Shop, Vryburg, N.W. Province, SA.
20/02/1973: Bridget Johnson, Bibbi Shoes, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
20/02/19??: Rakesh Ambaram, JFK Trading, Durban, KZN, SA.
21/02/1958: David Barnett, Urban Angel Accessories, Boksburg, Gauteng, SA.
21/02/1960: Nigel Payne, NTE, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
21/02/1975: Zubair Desai, Leather Loft, Stanger/KwaDukuza, KZN, SA.
22/02/1967: Shabir Ahmed Moola, Moola’s Newcastle, KZN, SA.
22/02/1970: Ebrahim Akoon, Urban Legends, Bloemfontein, Free State, SA.
22/02/1982: Katherine Bischoff, Leatherband, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
23/02/1949: Jeff Burland, retired to Australia, formerly United Fram/Wayne Plastics, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
24/02/1954: Linda Gordon, Riversdalse Skoenwinkel, Riversdal, W. Cape, SA.
24/02/1973: M Taljaard, Taljaard Shoe Store, Germiston, Gauteng, SA.
26/02/1946: Brian Carmichael, MTL Trading, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
26/02/1959: Prakash Chiba, Falcarragy Trading, Durban, KZN, SA.
26/02/1961: Keith Lyons, Strayz, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
26/02/1981: Ndlela Mazibuko, BBF Safety Group, Pinetown, KZN, SA.

20/02/2004: Barry Dowson (b. 1938), Barry Dowson Components [closed], Greytown, KZN, SA.

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3. Malawian Kwacha (MWK)

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4. Zambian Kwacha (ZMW)

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5. Zimbabwean Dollar (ZWL$)

Source: https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/

Note: For previous rates, see HERE

ABSA Agri Trends: Hides & skins prices

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (16 February 2023) - The current average hide price remained unchanged at R4.18/kg from a week ago. The current price is 0.7% higher than the average price a month ago and 31.6% lower than the average price a year ago. The range of prices reported was as follows: Minimum price: R3.70 Maximum price: R5.00. Please note: Our methodology weighs the prices we collect according to the number of hides they sell in a month. This is done to make it more representative of the prevailing market price. NB* Hide prices are determined by the average of the RMAA (Red Meat Abattoir Association) and independent companies. - Marlene Louw, senior agricultural economist, and Nkhensani Mashimbyi, agricultural economist, Absa group.

Note: For previous prices, see HERE

Have a look at these links

We invite businesses to send us links to websites, Facebook pages and the like which they feel would be of interest to others. The links below are from our database:
Jack Lemkus, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA. Sneaker retailer.
Jack's Footwear, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Leather footwear manufacturer.

Contact us

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

Next newsletter: February 27, 2023.

SAFLIA enquiries: Tel 0800SAFLIA * Email info@saflia.co.za * Website http://www.saflia.co.za

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