Durban, KZN, SA - While local footwear manufacturing has dropped by 15% from January to August, footwear imports have risen by almost 35% in the same period, according to Jirka Vymĕtal, executive director, Southern African Footwear & Leather Industries Association.“Imports this year to August were up, year on year, by 34.5% to ...more

Durban, KZN, SA – My forecast for 2024 is that production will be 12.5% down on last year. Meaning 41,690,000 pairs.The last time we saw such low volumes was in 2007.My forecast for next year is that production will be stabilised at the same level as this year – let’s say 42,000,000 pairs. However, with some serious inte ...more

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%,&rdquo ...more

Chinese online retailers Temu and Shein, which deliver parcels to individual consumers directly from China, have opened a loophole for noncompliant safety footwear and respiratory protection equipment to enter SA.The safety footwear styles offered by both do not have National Regulator for Compulsory Standards (NRCS) approval numbers, and ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – In response to criticism that the R-CTFL Masterplan has not delivered benefits for footwear manufacturing, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel, who attended the virtual PMO core meeting last week, asked the footwear representatives, representing SAFLIA and SAFLEC, to compile a full list ...more

Umhlanga, KZN, SA – Following an investigation by SAFLIA, Chinese online retailer Temu said after last week’s report that it had withdrawn all safety footwear from its South African portal.SAFLIA found that Temu’s safety footwear didn’t comply with the marking and certification requirements for safety footwear in S ...more

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – The group monitoring the progress of the R-CTFL Masterplan – the PMO Core – “does not have a mandate to engage with the media”, according to Michael Lawrence, who represents the National Clothing Retail Federation of SA (NCRF) on the PMO Core.He was responding last week to the report ...more

Umhlanga, KZN, SA – An investigation by SAFLIA has shown that online retailer Temu, which officially launched in South Africa on 17 January, is selling non-compliant safety footwear in SA. SAFLIA signed up to the site and ordered a style labelled as ‘Men's Summer Mesh Steel Toe Shoes Breathable Work Safety Shoes Industri ...more

SAFLIA and S&V have separately carried out chain store visits in recent weeks at some prominent shopping centres, including most of the apparel chains aimed at middle- to upper middle-class consumers.There were a number of difficulties:It wasn’t always easy to find country of origin marking. Different chains – or perhaps d ...more

Removing the duty on imported components is a process, and footwear is just starting out on it.Clothing has been granted duty free access to imported woven fabrics, but that doesn’t automatically extend to footwear.“What I didn’t know was that separately from the HS tariff code for the product, there are specific rebate ...more

Has the R-CTFL Masterplan, launched 5 years ago, done anything to increase local procurement of footwear and leather goods by the chains that agreed to be part of it?It depends on who you ask, and the answers are very different.In the ‘yes’ corner is Michael Lawrence, who wears 2 hats – as director of the National Clothi ...more

In an implicit question mark over the future of collective bargaining in the South African footwear manufacturing industry, the Southern African Footwear & Leather Industries Association lost many of its members, most of them SMMEs, at the beginning of 2023.“…they believe our wage rates in the footwear industry have grown ...more

Contrary to expectations, SA footwear manufacturing in 2022 rose by 20% over 2021 from 51 119 332 pairs to 61 334 614 pairs. The bulk of the increase was made up of cheap constructions such as flip flops, executive director Jirka Vymětal said.Noting the apparently worsening youth unemployment in SA, which he called &l ...more

All SA footwear manufacturers will again pay full contributions to the Footwear Industry Technological Fund – the statutory monthly levy based on a percentage of weekly wages paid – from January 2024. A 3-year payment ‘holiday’ between July 2020, at the beginning of the covid crisis, and June this year, was replace ...more

An “influencer” who promotes Jim Green Footwear on YouTube has made the claim that it is “one of the only if not the only” South African shoe manufacturers that pays 100% of the prescribed [wage] rate. He said others paid 65% of the rate.The influencer, who operates under the name Rose Anvil, made the claim in a pr ...more

With little fanfare, SAFLIA, the DTIC and the unions have managed to persuade the SA Government to keep most footwear and leather goods tariff lines out of the soon-to-be-implemented African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which will see most products traded duty free between African countries.So far.AfCFTA’s aim is to create ...more

Durban, KZN, SA - The annual Arsutoria footwear and handbag international trends workshops in South Africa - which have run since 2017 - have, over the years, opened a window onto the fashion world for around 200 mainly design staff, most of whom would have had little opportunity to travel to fairs.The courses continued right through Covi ...more

The annual Arsutoria footwear and handbag international trends workshops in South Africa are sponsored by SAFLIA, SAFLEC and the Ethekwini Footwear & Leather Export Programme, and this year’s workshops were held in Durban from 17 to 21 April and in Cape Town on 24 April. S&V asked the Durban attendees to say what effect it h ...more

Pretoria, Gauteng SA (02 November 2022) – According to a release, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) have gone ahead with their scheme to donate tons of seized clothing, blankets, and footwear to flood victims in KwaZulu Natal.     & ...more

In the January edition of S&V Footwear & Leather Goods last week, the lead article was that if the SA footwear manufacturing industry is to grow, it must start making sneakers. Here are submissions from 2 people who say it can. ...more

Safety footwear has so far survived the pandemic relatively unscathed - no life support from government, and apparently no casualties. ...more

More than any other footwear category in South Africa, safety footwear has so far survived the pandemic relatively unscathed - no life support from government, and apparently no casualties. It helped that its status as part of PPE, and therefore an essential service, allowed it to operate, albeit on a reduced scale, during the strictest p ...more

Durban, KZN, SA - Footwear production during the first 2 quarters of 2020 fell by 34.84% by comparison with the same period in 2019, according to the SAFLIA Digest for January to June, released last month.Pairage dropped from 24.4 million pairs to 15.9 million.The value of ex-factory sales dropped by 31.2%, from R2.7 billion to close to R ...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

From today, the leather and footwear sectors, and their suppliers, may resume limited business, from manufacturing to retail, subject to various safety measures. Subject to clarification, it appears that ANY closed footwear qualifies. So far, no mention has been made of leather goods.       In Government ...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

Several manufacturers have said they have yet to receive money from the UIF for their employees.Moda Shoes is a family footwear retailer with 3 stores in Pretoria.       "It seems that UIF payments have started to filter through to some factories," SAFLIA director Jirka Vymetal said, "but ...more

The Southern African Footwear & Leather Industries Association (SAFLIA) was also a signatory to the export charter unveiled at the SA Footwear & Leather Export Council (SAFLEC) AGM in July.       In the report in the last S&V Footwear & Leather Goods Magazine, John Comley was listed as a ...more

Durban, KZN, SA – The SAFLIA AGM and dinner will be held at Zimbali, north of Durban, on August 6. This is the same venue as last year.       "Traditionally, SAFLIA has rotated its AGMs between KZN and the Western Cape," executive director Jirka Vymetal said. "However, since there a ...more

Cape Town, SA - Country of origin marking and reference pricing again dominated the second meeting of the SARS Footwear and Leather Task Team on November 7, which included representatives from SA Revenue Services, SAFLIA, NULAW and SACTWU, and the Foschini Group. The DTI was not represented. There was some progress on reference pricing, a ...more

Skin, Hide & Leather Council (SHALC) AGM, at the Intercontinental Hotel, OR Tambo Airport, May 26 ...more

Pretoria (SA) – It is rather regrettable that SAFLIA adopted a stance to withdraw from this important forum. NULAW fully supports the efforts by SARS Customs Fraud unit to combat illegal imports and under invoicing despite its current challenges.        NULAW have attempted over the past three years to convince ...more

The Southern African Footwear & Leather Industries Association (SAFLIA) had already lost confidence in the SARS. Late last year executive director Jirka Vymetal told the CTFL Industry Forum – a body chaired by SARS and intended to discuss illegal/undervalued imports and similar issues – that he would no longer attend its m ...more

Johannesburg (SA) – SAFLIA has so far successfully lobbied against a proposal by the East African Community (EAC) that footwear trade between it and South Africa through the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) be zero-rated. Following ongoing negotiations at NEDLAC, the standard 30% duty, which applies to all footwear imports, rem ...more