One more textile mill shuts down

21 Jan '10

2 min read

As the local textile manufacturers of South Africa are facing challenges to compete with international products, one more textile group of the country is about to down its shutters.
SA Fine Worsteds, a manufacturer of worsted wool suits and many other items, has decided to close its two factories, in Maitland and Atlantis as it is receiving less orders. This closure will leave more than 325 people without jobs.

Though a number of suits were manufactured from local textiles in South Africa, earlier, too many ready-made suits are being imported into the country. Also, demand for this product in global market has witnessed a steep fall, informed Mr. Etienne Vlok, a researcher at the South African Clothing and Textile Workers' Trade Union (Sactwu).

In the first 11 months of 2009, around 65 factories experienced shut down, which resulted into the lay off of about 13,400 people in the clothing, textile and footwear industry, as per Sactwu figures. A Seardel subsidiary Frame was among the major victims of this shutdown trend, and which closed a factory in KwaZulu-Natal, turning 1,400 workers jobless.

Government's special support to these labour-intensive industries, under its industrial strategy, has not proved effective to stop job losses in the industry during the past few years.

Delay in executing a tailor-made program by the government has been termed as one of the causes for this, as this program could include cheaper financing for equipment and training programs.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India