Big company, small footprint
THEY HAVE REASON TO BE PROUD OF THEIR NEW DESIGN HEADQUARTERS They use borehole water for ablutions and redirect rainwater into huge tanks.
Based in Epping, Cape TownTrade Call Investments Apparel (TCIA), one of South Africa’s leading apparel design and manufacturing companies, unveiled their new design centre in Epping, Cape Town in the month of June.
Using industry practices to lower its carbon footprint, the building is a state of the art production centre for local retailers such as Woolworths, Truworths, Edcon Group and Queenspark, as well as international retailers like Top Shop, River Island, Superdry and Urban Outfitters to name a few.
“The garment industry has, in recent years, been one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions. For this reason, we found it to be of the utmost importance to reduce the environmental impact of our operations in every conceivable way – from operations and processes to architecture and furniture choices.” says Herman Pillay, CEO of TCI Apparel.
“We are delighted that we are able to position South Africa as a leader in green manufacturing.”
Fittingly so, as Cape Town has seen a positive trend towards environmental awareness in architecture, the new Apparel Design Centre is decidedly en vogue in this regard.
Sustainability and sensitivity to the environment formed part of the design ethos from the beginning.
The Design Centre is the first industrial building of its kind with a sharp focus on being environmentally sensitive, this is achieved through green building practices and the use of eco vinyl tiles, LED lighting, solar power, indoor plants, strategically tinted windows which retains heat in winter and expels in summer, environmentally sensitive ceiling boards, living walls and a vegetable garden that will be utilised by the canteen providing meals for employees.
The furniture in the centre is locally produced and made of recycled plastic, wood and steel; hereby supporting local industry as well as greatly lowering their carbon footprint.
Given the current water crisis in the Western Cape, the design centre has been engineered to save every possible drop.
By utilising borehole water for ablutions and redirecting rainwater that would otherwise have gone unused into 40 000 litre storage tanks, a saving what’s left of the frightfully limited municipal supply but also cutting the costs of producing some of the world’s top brands without cannibalising quality.
The local manufacturing sector has been struggling to combat global competition, diminishing the local job pool even further as local retailers turn to international suppliers for cheaper goods.
When Seardel Apparel – a company founded in 1957, which at its peak employed over 20 000 people – was on the brink of closing down and leaving over 2 270 people without jobs, TCI Apparel was formed, subsequently reviving the struggling business.
This not only saved many of the existing jobs but created 1 300 additional jobs.
This was a much-needed lifesaver to many employees who were facing uncertainty at a time when retrenchments had become the norm in the sector (between 2005 and 2014, 91 000 jobs were lost in the textiles, clothing, leather and footwear manufacturing sector nationally).
This is a massive boon given the current economic climate and is largely due to their close working relationship with their customers. As opposed to buyers coming in and merely selecting items or sending a prototype to be replicated for mass production; they aim to work closer together from the design phase to collaborate in product development.
CEO Herman Pillay is very proud of this fact, “We pride ourselves on the relationships we hold with our customers, creating garments alongside them as opposed to just selling to them ensures they always get precisely what their consumers want.”
“With a keen advocacy for sustainable fashion and the ultimate goal of securing jobs in the local sector, we have created a worldclass clothing and textile value chain within Africa,” says Pillay.
“I feel that, as business owners and entrepreneurs, if we put our focus on our homeland and our own people the results will be a sustainable and stable economy.
“We need to be doing more to empower and improve our society.”
I feel that, as business owners and entrepreneurs, if we put our focus on our homeland and our own people the results will be a sustainable and stable economy. We need to be doing more to empower and improve our society. Herman Pillay CEO of TCI Apparel