There are many factors other than reluctant chain buyers that contribute to the SA leather value chain’s problems ...more

Sadly, Denis Manning passed away on Tuesday, 18 March after a battle with cancer, 11 days before his 71st birthday.Denis arrived in South Africa with his wife, Jane, in March 1976 and settled in Pinetown. He joined Kronies as a trainee factory manager and worked there for many years, firstly with Hans Krohn and Doug Roberts and then ...more

Obituary: Howard Charles Patterson-Roberts – footwear agent (22/06/1951-08/03/2025) ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – The third Africa Agri Tech Conference and Exhibition (AAT), taking place from 18 to 20 March 2025 at the CSIR Convention Centre in Pretoria, is the gateway to the latest AgTech breakthroughs.“The biggest challenges facing food producers today – rising input costs, erratic weather, theft, and logis ...more

Obituary: John Paris Watt – Bata Shoe Co., Bresan Footwear (09/12/1944-05/01/2025) Howick, KZN, SA – It is with deep sorrow that I announce the passing of my father, John Paris Watt, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, who passed away at the age of 80 earlier this month.Born in East London in the Eastern Cap ...more

Howick, KZN, SA – John Watt of Bresan Footwear, and before that of Bata SA, died on 05 January following a stroke on 02 January. According to his son, Alistair, He had been struggling with a number of health issues over the past 6 months and had been in and out of hospital a number of times in recent weeks.     An obi ...more

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.  ...more

Bubblegummers to be ‘a priority product’Durban, KZN, SA – Broadening Bata South Africa’s brand base is a priority – perhaps the priority – for country manager Lorraine Dyer, who joined in August with a background managing apparel brands including Converse and Calvin Klein.That has been the goal under su ...more

 Durban, KZN, SA – Bata SA country manager Michael Wyatt has been promoted to president of Bata Africa-Middle East and Bata Industrials.The new Bata SA country manager is Lorraine Dyer, who has over 20 years retail and wholesale experience in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.In a release, Bata SA said “her track re ...more

The Woodlands, Texas, U.S. – Huntsman’s Polyurethanes business will launch a ‘gripping’ new soling development for the footwear industry at the NW Materials Show at the end of August.The new portfolio of high performing thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) products is aimed at footwear brands producing running, hiking ...more

Washington, DC, U.S. (16 August 2024) – The promotional blog Real Leather. Stay Different. (RLSD), funded by the Leather & Hide Council of America (LHCA) to promote U.S. leather internationally, organises an annual international student design competition. It has issued the following release: ...more

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA – Wattle extract producer NTE Company, already under pressure because of global demand, says it is getting calls from customers of Brazilian extract producer Tanac S.A. following floods which have put its plant out of commission.“Tanac is a diversified business,” said NTE GM Nigel Payne, “ ...more

Durban, KZN, SA – Caprini Footwear is restructuring and has NOT closed, MD Sanjay Pattundeen said last week.He said Caprini had had no work for March and April, “but now I’m preparing to restart a scaled down Caprini next month”.Caprini supplies chains, wholesalers and mini-chains, and it has an export customer in ...more

The Chairman of the Sustainable Use Coalition (SUCo-SA), Pieter Swart, attended various local and international events recently. He says this report on the state of the wildlife Industry “is a mixture of hope and concern”. ...more

  Joins the footwear division of Feltex Industries – later R. Faulks & Co. – as a teenaged apprentice under the watchful eye of his father, Andy Patterson-Roberts, in about 1958. Studies via the SA Institute of the Boot & Shoe Industry and qualifies in 1965. Becomes a supervisor on the production floor in ...more

Many footwear manufacturers which concentrate on producing women’s leather sandals for retail are “very quiet at the moment”, Attie Els owner of leather supplier Els Agencies said.“They have fair orders for delivery from July on, but until then, they’re living off their reserves, trying to survive. The orders ...more

S&V asked 16 footwear manufacturers to comment on any growth in their orders from chains – especially those that are part of the NCRF, which was a signatory to the Masterplan – since its launch 5 years ago. 2 manufacturers answered. ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – Pieter Swart, the current President of the SA Taxidermy & Tannery Association (SATTA), was elected as the Sustainable Use Coalition Southern Africa (SUCo-SA)* Chairman late in 2023.  He entered the wildlife industry as a part time professional hunter and outfitter in the early 90s shortly after ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA – At the time of writing last week, the Sustainable Use Coalition (SUCo-SA) team was in Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the 77th CITES Standing Committee (SC 77) from 06-10 November.The Standing Committee provides policy guidance to the CITES Secretariat concerning the implementation of the Convention. It coordi ...more

Howick, KZN, SA - Despite to the rumours doing the rounds, Bresan Footwear is not in business rescue, but like a lot of businesses in the manufacturing sector, we have been affected by the current state of the South African economy.Post lockdown, the business climate has changed and while we regained our production levels to pre covid lev ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng, SA - "Business is slow - there's no money," said Gattas Trading Store member Ahmed Gattas. "It's Saturday morning, and it's frightening how quiet it is. However, we remain positive. November and December are normally good months for us."Gattas specialises in military-style products - blankets, clothi ...more

Durban, KZN, SA - The wave of layoffs at Boardriders globally since its takeover by Authentic Brands Group hasn't affected the operation in SA, sales and marketing manager Dane Patterson said last week.However, after all the global effort of merging the Quiksilver and Billabong groups and turning distributors into subsidiaries, ABG is exp ...more

According to an article in Moneyweb on 05 September, foreign investors have “dumped” shares in entertainment business MultiChoice Group and apparel retailers Mr Price Group and TFG Ltd.It said the catalyst had been a quarterly review of indices by US investment advisor MSCI Inc., which had led to “an approximate outflow ...more

1.  Feedback on the Controversial UK TROPHY BAN.Despite much publicity, and input from various African Governments, NGOs and scientists, the House of Commons approved the Trophy Ban bill, but it still needed the approval from the House of Lords. Two amendments were added before passing the Commons: (1) limits the ban to CITES listed ...more

Durban, KZN, SA – Bata Group has made several appointments.Bata South Africa's finance director of 2 years, Saket Mohta, has been promoted to regional finance director - Africa and Middle East Region for Bata Group, and is succeeded by Denise Moodley as the first woman FD at Bata SA.Bata SA country manager, Michael Wyatt, said of Mo ...more

Bata SA expansion programme: Retail partnerships, global brands ...more

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA - Micam Milano, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Trade Agency, will present MICAM Milano 96 and footwear trends forecasting for Spring Summer 2024 at the Maslow Sandton Hotel, Grayston Drive, on 08 June 2023 at 10:30.The programme is:10:30 Registration & welco ...more

Michael Wyatt, Country Manager, Bata South AfricaPinetown, KZN, SA - Overall Back To School was extremely successful from a manufacturing, distribution, and retail perspective. We saw double-digit growth vs. plans, and a strong January top-up demand despite 2022’s inflationary pressure on raw material costs and gross margin. The maj ...more

Michael Wyatt, country manager, Bata SAPinetown, KZN, SA - We will only know the outcome of retail BTS sell out in February - January is too early to tell. But as a manufacturer and wholesaler we saw double digit growth vs. 2021 for full year sales, so another successful year for our brands.  Jannie Vermeulen, Ekspa Fabrikante/Adno's ...more

BoardridersDurban, KZN, SA  – "A lot of retailers have told me they didn't have a good Black Friday," said Boardriders sales and marketing manager Dane Patterson. "We had a fantastic period."      "Boardriders opened Black Friday to Boardriders Club members from Friday 18th ...more

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA - 2022 has most definitely been one of our most challenging years in a long time. The year started off positively, and we have had a few busy months, but overall we are trading way down on previous years.        Staff absenteeism, material supply problems and rising costs a ...more

Durban, KZN, SA - Airways Tailors & Outfitters has adapted to trading conditions by sharing premises and concentrating on its core competence - tailoring. Owner Navin Khoosal has moved into Wayne Matthysen's Bluedot store. "He's the retailer, I'm the tailor," he said.      He said there had &quo ...more

26 January 2022 - The U.S. sports retail business was very disrupted in 2020 and 2021. Earlier trends reversed themselves and different ones emerged. Old habits were shed, and new ones replaced them. We can expect dramatic shifts to take hold once again in 2022. Macro trends in sports retailFirst, direct-to-consumer (DTC) initiatives ...more

If local manufacturing is to grow, it must find a way of getting into this market ...more

Palm: Raring to goBy Rajeev Pattundeen, MDDurban, KZN, SA – We open 10.1, hence the silence… been in a quiet holiday bubble!      Our retail partners were adequately stocked in anticipation of a normalised back to school season.      Feedback received,  is that trade has been buoyant with mi ...more

Q&A with Michael Wyatt, MD Bata SA ...more

Q&A with Michael Wyatt, MD Bata SAHow happy or otherwise is your business with the NRCS? Do you have numbers for all your styles? What are the problems, for safety footwear suppliers, with what the NRCS is doing? Bata has a good relationship with NRCS. However, South Africa would benefit from speeding up the turnaround time of ne ...more

April 23, 2021 - The strong trend we saw in golf and team sports equipment under COVID has continued into 2021, with a few notable exceptions. Sales growth for Q1 was robust, up more than 50% compared to 2020 and up more than 40% compared to 2019. There, of course, were several one-offs that drove these trends: the third stimulus check, t ...more

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA - Marco Di Lembo, the owner of Villani Shoes, died tragically on April 06, aged 47. Born in Johannesburg to Michele and Rosella Di Lembo, he went to Robertsham Primary Junior School before progressing to Sir John Adamson High School. While in high school, Marco matured and earned academic distinctions and partici ...more

Springs, Gauteng – "I can't complain," said Cattell's Industrial Footwear owner Rob Cattell. "January was on par with last year, February was slightly up. This month will be down on last year, because it was in March last year that the first lockdown started."      That good month l ...more

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA - Shortages of facemasks and coveralls caused by the pandemic have resulted in many PPE distributors and resellers "turning a blind eye" to checking that the products they sell meet required standards, according to Deleane Luzzatto, chairperson of the Southern African Protective Equipment Marketing Asso ...more

S&V has been a window onto the soul of the leather, footwear and leather goods industries for decades, and like them, has reinvented itself many times This is an anniversary year for S&V. An 85th anniversary. I very much doubt many other industries in South Africa have a trade publication which has published continuously for ...more

Pietermaritzburg, KZN, SA – We started up after 2 days of preparing our factory to comply with the new OHS Act. It has been a hectic 2 weeks and the exact number of employees we are permitted to have on site has been a bit confusing. We have been operating with 30% of our staff for the past 2 weeks, which has not been financia ...more

Edcon, once the biggest fashion retailer in SA, went into business rescue at the end of April. CEO Grant Pattison, in charge for the past 2 years, blamed the lockdown as the final straw in the long slide which began in 2007 when it was acquired by US private equity firm Bain Capital for a - with hindsight - unsustainable R25 billion and d ...more

Cape Town, W Cape, SA - The rules imposed on most footwear manufacturers wishing to restart manufacturing under the government's 'Level 4' lockdown "will discourage most from re-opening", SAFLIA executive director Jirka Vymetal said last week. "There are a lot of rules and requests that make it difficult," he said. &qu ...more

Cape Town, W Cape, SA – Following the announcement that the manufacture and retail of 'winter clothing' will be allowed from May 1, a Government Gazette spelling out the conditions is expected to be published this week.       "We're busy writing a lot of motivations and product lists wh ...more

Wholesaler/retailer London Shoes has 4 stores in the Western Cape, each with a different landlord, and each has reacted differently, director Maon Saxe said.       "Landlord 1 is Redefine," he said, "and they've been excellent. Before the lockdown was extended, they offered a 70% discount ...more

Hong Kong – Texon has launched 2 new products where environmental considerations are a key factor. Texon describes itself as "a market leader in the development of eco-friendly, structural materials for the global footwear industry". It manufactures insole, toe puff and heel counter materials. In July, it launched Texon Vu ...more

SAPEMA KZN Regional Meeting, October 2Durban, KZN, SA - Foreign exhibitors at A-OSH were a major topic at SAPEMA's KZN regional meeting. Chaired by Clyde Beattie of Uvex, who is also SAPEMA's national vice-chairman, just 5 people, representing 4 of SAPEMA's 16 KZN members, attended. A-OSH SAPEMA is in discussions with Specialise ...more

 Pretoria, Gauteng, SA - The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) has confirmed that it is "looking at the regulation of PPE as a whole", but it says that it is a process that will take time. "We will be having a lot of consultations with industry and key stakeholders," said Thomas Madzivhe, GM: ...more

Being responsible for ensuring that your work force has the correct and sufficient protection when it comes to PPE,  can carry some serious weight, the reason being that you have your employee’s safety on one hand and the company's bottom line and PPE spend on the other. Balancing these two important factors has huge implicatio ...more

Durban, KZN, SA (August 29, 2019) – Shareholders are advised that at the Mr Price Group Annual General Meeting ("AGM") held yesterday, Wednesday, 28 August 2019, all the ordinary and special resolutions as set out in the notice of AGM dated 11 June 2019 were passed by the requisite majority of votes of shareholders presen ...more

"This last week has been pretty tough, but July and the first 2 weeks of August were good, which is normally the case. Our winter sale is the last week of July and the first week of August, but generally the momentum carries through to the end of August. We'll have to see whether it picks up next week again. May and June were tou ...more

The new association for taxidermists and associated businesses had its formal launch in MayThe South African Taxidermy & Tannery Association (SATTA) was established in October 2016 with the aim to become the officially recognised body to serve the Taxidermy, Tannery and Dip & Pack industry in South Africa. We aim to actively work ...more

Production of a sterile black wattle as a means of controlling the spread of a commercially important forestry species in South Africa. ...more

Melbourne (Australia) -  Trade magazine Footwear News Australia has closed after 37 years.        In a mail to readers, publisher/editor Vicki Hatton, who took over the magazine founded by her father, Bob Grant, blamed declining advertising and subscription revenues and increased printing and distribution costs.&n ...more