S&V Weekly Newsletter Vol.9 No.48, November 27 2023

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LA Group acquires Boardriders brands

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (21 November 2023) - LA Group has acquired the licence to distribute the Boardriders brands from its global owner, Authentic Brands Group (ABG), according to a release. It said the deal would probably be finalised in the first quarter of next year.
      The brands are Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, DC Shoes, Element, and VonZipper, and LA Group’s licence covers South Africa and southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, and Zambia.
      LA Group will also take over 32 freestanding stores.
      The brands and the stores were previously handled by an ABG subsidiary, New Pier Trading.
      The release didn’t clarify whether LA Group was taking over New Pier Trading, the ABG subsidiary which has been distributing the surf brands.
      It also made no mention of whether the surf brands would remain headquartered in Durban, and under the current management team.
      The LA Group has recently moved and merged the Johannesburg head offices of its other apparel distribution subsidiaries, Skye Distribution and Polo SA.
      They have both been moved to Wanderers Office Park in Rosebank. Their previous head offices are now warehouses.

Black Friday

Dodo’s: Government incompetence – where is retail outrage?

Kelli Kupritz, group marketing director
Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA - What is there to say? I can’t believe there was not enough outrage from all the retailers about how the hell our government failed us all again? Black Friday became a blackout weekend. What was supposed to be a bustling retail weekend transformed into a struggle against the dark, leaving retailers and shoppers grappling with a different kind of deal – one imposed by our failure of a government.
      The busiest time for retailers and for customers to enjoy shopping a good deal and they announce stage 6 on Friday morning. Where is the outrage?
      I am a true optimist but it’s hard to be positive when there are factors that are completely beyond one’s control.
      From Transnet’s inability to do their job and offload containers on time for retailers to get their stock, to load shedding and then crazy heatwave with temperatures at some of our stores soaring above 40’ degrees – wow, if you can get through all this – you are a winner.
      We had an incredible offer, we bought in a specific promotion and it really worked, customers loved our deal.
      Online sales for us were fantastic for our online sites Shoe Box and Madison.

Kingsmead: Better than expected, but consumers don’t have much to spend

Kim Cunniffe, MD
Durban, KZN, SA - We had a better-than-expected Black Friday. We had some good specials and people were looking for deals.  It is obvious though that money is tight, and people were being more conservative in their spending.  The implementation of Stage 6 load shedding on Friday didn’t help matters.  At the end of the weekend, we were happy with our figures and moved the units we were looking to move.

Malawi

Reasons behind devaluation and what it means for importers

Iqbal Hajat, Director, Footwear Centre Ltd
Blantyre, Malawi - The reasons for the recent 44% devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha would be:

1. Requirement from the IMF as a condition to release further funding loans which are badly needed to preserve liquidity, to help the country repay previous international loans and begin the process of debt restructuring.
2. The gap between the official forex rates and the informal market has been quite substantial for a long period indicating that the official rate had become unrealistic.
3. As a way of easing the forex shortage that had been affecting the country for the last 18 months or so.

In terms of how it will affect businesses, we note the following:

• Prices for all types of goods and services will increase by at least 50% if not more.  This is because this country is overly dependent on imports for all types of products from food and fuel to clothing, electronics, medicines, fertiliser, and vehicles to name just a few.
• The rise in fuel costs and other expenses like salaries, utilities, etc., will also increase prices of goods produced locally but not as badly as for imports.
• Many small/medium size businesses will be badly affected due to the downturn in purchasing power of individuals as wages and salaries have not been adjusted upward to reflect the increased cost of living.
• In terms of our own business, we will also be negatively impacted by the increases in prices of our products and the increases in the costs of doing business, higher electricity tariffs, rental adjustments, transport costs, salaries etc.  We are managing to survive due to fact that we may be one of only a few businesses offering footwear products at the higher end of the market in terms of quality.  Our target market is not as badly affected by the higher prices as the people in lower income brackets.
 

They Said It

"Are you still on original body parts?" - Rory Anderson, Rory Anderson Agencies, in a discussion about knee- and hip replacements. Well yes, and though I’d like to claim it’s because they’re high quality, I think the truth is that they’ve done lower mileage.

New subscribers last week

Thalia Olver, Footwear Buyer, Options, South Africa
Johan Venter, Finishing Technician, CKI International, Mosselbay, Western Cape, South Africa

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

Birthdays this week

27/11/1965: Gerda Rappard, retired, formerly Bolton Footwear, Great Brak River, W. Cape, SA.
27/11/1975: Dione Govender, Paragon Footwear, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA.
27/11/1977: Paul Diedricks, agent, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
28/11/1940: Raphael Capelouto, retired, formerly Brazilian Sandal Co., and others, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
28/11/1955: Tony Ford, left the industry, formerly Naturfit, Durban, KZN, SA.
28/11/1960: Baba Sourimuthu, Robach Components, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
29/11/1940: Mike Samuel, retired, formerly agent, Durban, KZN, SA.
29/11/1943: Nigel Ratcliffe, retired and emigrated, formerly Boehme Africa and TST Agencies.
29/11/1951: André Lubbe, retired, formerly AP Lubbe & Son, Stellenbosch, W. Cape, SA.
29/11/1965: Maria Mintoor, All Leather Shoe Manufacturers, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
30/11/1933: Ahmed Simjee, Hopewell, Durban, KZN, SA.
30/11/1963: Martin Paulsen,?, formerly NULAW, Durban, KZN, SA.
30/11/????: Nicole de Vries, Logomotif, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
30/11/1971: Mantsebo Motsoanakaba-Phakoana, Fashion Parlour, Ladybrand, Free State, SA.
01/12/1946: Rob Cattell, Cattell’s Industrial Footwear, Springs, Gauteng, SA.
01/12/1948: Ken Gordon, retired, formerly Turbek Trading, Hermanus, W. Cape, SA.
01/12/1950: Aboobaker Gangat, May’s Factory Shop, Port Shepstone, KZN, SA.
01/12/1959: Arthur Lewis, AGB Sourcing & Consulting, Pinetown, KZN, SA.
01/12/1966: Grant N Munro, Freestyle Handmade Originals, Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
02/12/1949: Stephen Chetty, retired, formerly NFLC, Vanderbijlpark, and Edcon, Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA.
02/12/1968: Teddy Moodley, Caprini Footwear, Durban, KZN, SA.
02/12/1971: Happy Shongwe, Happy Boutique, Mbabane, Swaziland.
02/12/1974: Stuart Galbraith, Milspeed Marketing, China.

In memoriam this week

29/11/2001: Harold Sack (b. 14/09/1932), Nugshoe [closed], Pinetown, KZN, SA.
30/11/2017: Dimitar Todorov (b. 08/11/1947), Afromerino Produce (now African Merino Trading) and Tannery Industries Botswana (closed).
30/11/2021: S.C. Siki Moosa (b. 15/11/1948), Shutique Wholesalers, Pretoria, Gauteng, SA.
01/12/1998: Gian-Carlo Rosa (‘John’) Donati, Nupro Shoes [closed], Pinetown, KZN, SA.
02/12/1996: Pieter Du Plooy, Bata Zimbabwe, Bata SA, KZN, SA.
02/12/2008: Tony Laycock (b. 26/01/1951), Mario Levi Manufacturing [closed], Uitenhage, E. Cape, SA.

Have you let us know about your birthday, or the birthdays of your colleagues? Our readers love this section, so please become part of it. This also applies to the In Memoriam section. Help us remember former colleagues.

Directory entries updated last week

American Clothing/The Vault [Blazecore 206 cc], Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
Carst & Walker SA (Pty) Ltd Polymers Division, Durban, KZN, SA.
Pep Retail [Pepkor Ltd], Cape Town, W. Cape, SA.
Southern African Polymers & Compounds (Pty) Ltd (SAPCO), Durban, KZN, SA.

3. Malawian Kwacha (MWK)

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

4. Zambian Kwacha (ZMW)

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

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 November 2023) - The average hide price decreased by 1.6% to R3.23/kg from R3.28/kg in the previous week. The current price is 4.2% lower than the average price a month ago and 30.1% lower than the average price a year ago. The range of prices reported was as follows: Minimum price: R2.57 Maximum price: R3.50. 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, and Zama Sangweni, 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:

Kopano Store, Gaborone, Botswana. Men’s outfitter.
Kotoko Taxidermy & Tannery, Bloemfontein, Free State, SA.

Contact us

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

Next newsletter: December 4, 2023.

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

Our website www.svmag.co.za