Edcon to partner with Western Cape clothiers

13 Apr '06

3 min read

Leading retailing firm Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) reported that it had decided to partner with the Western Cape's struggling clothing manufacturers after an admission by manufacturers that they needed to make changes to their industry.

Edcon's Executive Manager for investor relations, Tessa Christelis, said manufacturers had taken a proactive step by saying "we need to change, please help us".

The Cape clothing and textile cluster announced that South Africa's four major clothing retailers - Foschini, Truworths International, Woolworths and Edcon - had joined the cluster.

The Cape clothing cluster, a private-public partnership between the Western Cape provincial government and 16 regional manufacturers representing 9 500 workers, seeks to bolster the competitiveness of the clothing and textiles industry, thereby ensuring its continued viability and future success.

Cape clothing cluster chief facilitator Justin Barnes said it was "a historic occasion, with the South African retailers and clothing and textile manufacturers previously largely disengaged from each other in terms of their strategic direction".

Edcon's Christelis did not specify what changes industry had agreed to make. She said trade unions had stopped arguing that South Africa needed a weaker currency to restore the health of the clothing manufacturing sector. She said South Africa needed a viable and globally competitive manufacturing industry and "we will do everything in our power to support that".

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