Naive clothing advice

SIR — The suggestion, “Bring clothing manufacturers closer to SA market” (May 25) is naive, to say the least.

First, while I agree that clothing manufacture is labour-intensive, it also requires highly skilled operatives. Training of machinists takes time and, as things stand, the industry has lost as many as 60 000 of these valuable workers in the recent past. Second, locally made instant high fashion (not haute couture) requires fast delivery of high-fashion fabrics. Sadly, many of these sources are not available in SA, and ordering and shipping of special fabrics is also time-consuming. So, if there is a six- to eight-week turnaround from time of placing garment orders in the Far East to the time of reaching the shop floor, I reckon this is exceptional.

Even with Chinese, Bangladeshi and Vietnamese garments, fabric has to be bought, made up and shipped, and I’d imagine (depending on the product) it takes at least two months just to put the goods on the water.

Finally, with SA’S high wage structure and comparatively low productivity levels, plus labour’s penchant for downing tools, I would say shortening the lead time is a pipe dream. As for using Spanish company Zara as a basis for comparison, most of its products are outsourced. Labels like GAP, Levi, Polo, Adidas and Nike can at best only be described as design studios.

Ron Bryer

Durban