Page 4 - IDC

CITY PRESS, 8 NOVEMBER, 2015 The IDC’s 11
news textile

A
PROJECT IN industry

PARTNERSHIP
WITH THE funding

BIÉNNE HUISMAN
bienne.huisman@citypress.co.za IDC Number of 190
businesses
W Thomas left Kensington supported: Funding value:
hen she was 15, Rachmat
High School in Cape Town
to work at a shoe factory to
support her sick parents.
Her mother and father
had both suffered strokes in quick succession. R2.56 billion
As a teenaged table hand at the now defunct
Olympic Flair in Elsie’s River, Thomas learnt how New jobs created:
to trim and clean leather, as well as how to glue 13 515
shoes together.
Today, Thomas (61) is the managing director of Jobs saved:
Chic Shoes, where 300 employees design and
make tens of thousands of shoes a week at a 6 268
factory in Parow.
Her clients include Woolworths and the SA Businesses
Police Service, whose female staff members are
shod in Chic’s court pumps. owned by
Last week, City Press visited the factory,
where, inside the reception room, a Progressive women
Business Forum certificate of appreciation signed
by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe is
displayed. Another poster on the wall quotes Funding value:
Marilyn Monroe: “Anything is possible with the R153 million
right pair of shoes.”
For the interview, Thomas wore a pair of flat Number of businesses:17
white pumps with fine ribbons on the front.
“See, these are structured pumps,” she says.
“They’re different to the flexible, fold-up kind New jobs created:132
we make for Woolworths.”
In 2010, Chic Shoes did an initial trial run of = 10
flat, structured pumps for Woolworths, which
was unsuccessful.
But Thomas went back to the drawing board, THE COBBLER Rachmat Thomas is the MD of Chic Shoes, which employs 300 people in its factory in Parow PHOTO: LULAMA ZENZILE Jobs saved:1 077
and, later that year, a modified fold-up version
“This pump is comfortable and yet made to Put your best
started flying off the retailer’s shelves. Initially,
Chic Shoes supplied 6 000 pairs of the pumps a
week, in three colours.
Today, it makes up to 17 000 pairs a week, in
15 colours, which change to match each season’s
fashion hues.

fold up into a woman’s handbag. This is for busy
women who want to step out of their heels to
But Olympic Flair fell on hard times and, over shoe forward
do grocery shopping after work,” says Thomas.
She smiles while speaking and sprinkles her
sentences with “my dear”. = 100
Thomas started at Olympic Flair in 1968,
where she worked her way up the ranks to Where are the
become a supervisor. businesses?
the years, reduced its workforce from 5 000 to Gauteng:
150, until it eventually abandoned local
manufacturing to import products from China Starting at the bottom when she was a teenager, 33
instead.
In 2004, Thomas and co-directors David
Arendse and Ivan Meyer raised Chic Shoes out Rachmat Thomas is now a co-director of Chic Shoes in
of Olympic Flair’s ashes, thanks to a loan from
Over the years, the IDC put R46 million into Cape Town, which produces thousands of shoes a week
the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
the company. This included R8 million for the Free State
two-storey factory building in Parow, and management or business side, I had to attend recession whittled the staff down to 90 in 2009. family and a successful career. She married her
R7 million for machinery. many courses.” She imparts a business tip: This was tough, as Thomas thinks of her staff husband, who works in printing, when she was 1
“The IDC offers a lower interest rate,” says surround yourself with smart people – people as family. She says young workers must be 17. They are still married and live in Mitchells
Thomas. “And they don’t pull the carpet out who know more than you do. taught responsibility for their company’s growth Plain. They have two children, both of whom
from under your feet like the banks do.” “Growing our business so quickly has been and future. now work for Chic Shoes.
As someone who learnt the shoe trade from stressful and immensely challenging. Every day “For example, we had so many matriculants Looking at the future, the factory might
the bottom up, Thomas says she attended in business is different – you have to be strong who started here last year. It really is important expand to larger premises if the demand for
training courses to hone her business savvy over and brave, and think on your feet.” to teach and inspire these young people,” she Woolies pumps continues to rise.
the years. The Woolies fold-up pump saved Chic Shoes says. And when the pressure gets too much? She KwaZulu-
“My passion is shoes, so to get on top of the from collapse after retrenchments during the Thomas insists that women can have both a finds calm in prayer and reflection, says Thomas. Natal:
64

Sticking to the family business

Eastern Cape:
6
BIÉNNE HUISMAN
bienne.huisman@citypress.co.za
The smell of leather and glue is thick in the air at Chic
Shoes in Parow, Cape Town.
An electronic bell announces the factory’s daily
3pm tea break, which is filled with shrieks and
laughter. Western Cape:
Chic Shoes employs 300 people – including factory 106
workers and designers – who produce up to 3 000
pairs of shoes a day.
Considered a family business, the company’s
directors, Rachmat Thomas, David Arendse and Ivan
Meyer, all have children employed there.
After the 10-minute tea break, Shannon September What do they
from Elsie’s River is again hunched over a table, where
she is sticking black leather uppers to soles with manufacture?
nimble fingers and a brush.
“Ja, you get used to the smell of the glue. In the
mornings, it’s really hectic though,” she says. IF THE SHOE FITS Kim Johnson has worked at Chic Shoes since HEART AND SOLE Designer Freddy Mias says weeks of work Clothing
September started working at Chic Shoes straight 2004 PHOTOS: LULAMA ZENZILE and thought go into the footwear produced by Chic Shoes
after matriculating from St Andrew’s Secondary Knitted fabrics
School in Elsie’s River three years ago. and garments
“I like fashion and pretty shoes, so I am motivated Textile industry needs to work together to grow jobs
by what I do here,” she says.
Elsie’s River borders Parow in Cape Town’s Other textile
northern suburbs. According to the 2011 census, 70% Textiles are one of the most traded commodities on the global market and Although the industry has recovered somewhat, it is by no means out of articles
of the residents are coloured and Afrikaans-speaking. worth $500 billion (R7 trillion) each year, with the lion’s share of the the woods. Key challenges include illegal and underdeclared imports, a
Half the households have a monthly income of only business going to China and the Eurozone. rapid increase in input costs, a shortage of specific skills, a highly
R3 200 or less. South Africa is a relatively small player, but with about 50 000 people regulated labour market and the discontinuation of export incentives. Textile finishing
Further along on the factory floor, Kim Johnson, employed in the textile industry it is important. South Africa has 251 textile companies. The industry is vital
who lives in an apartment in Parow, is painting glue This is a story that is repeated throughout the continent, with because it is significantly more labour-intensive than others and Footwear
on to leather uppers that are fitted over iron moulds. African countries exporting mostly raw cotton and importing relies heavily on semi- and unskilled labour, offering jobs to
Johnson has worked at Chic Shoes since its the processed material from international markets because those struggling to find work.
inception in 2004. Before that, she worked at Olympic of a lack of proper processing facilities. Only South Africa Steps are being taken to protect the industry, with the Cordage and rope
Flair with Thomas. and Mauritius have significant textile-production facilities. SA Revenue Service stepping up inspections of
“I enjoy working here,” she says. “This business The continent’s inability to take advantage of its consignments to combat illegal imports. Carpets, rugs
really becomes like a family.” potential can be put down to a lack of regional cohesion Another way government could help is through a
Every day, Johnson arrives at the factory at 6.45am in industrial policies, a shortage of technical skills, the focused programme of preferential procurement. and mats
to prepare before officially starting at 7.30am. She slow adoption of new technology and the apparent Government spends about R580 million on textiles and
normally leaves the factory at about 4pm. inability to build an intracontinental cotton value chain clothing annually and about R370 million of this is spent Leather
Up a flight of stairs and along a corridor is the with massive potential development value. on imports. If everything were locally bought, 3 000 jobs tanning and
factory’s design room, where three men are seated In the Southern African Development Community Dineo Skwambane could be created.
at desks piled high with shoes and bits of leather. (SADC) region, South Africa remains the textile The IDC’s textiles and clothing business unit and the dressing
“This is what a design room looks like – a mess,” powerhouse of textile production. It imported about R1.91 billion worth of department of trade and industry are working closely to provide input on
says assistant designer Freddy Mias, laughing. textiles and clothing from the rest of the region in 2014. At the same time, sector strategies. One such successful programme is the competitiveness Luggage,
Chic Shoes specialises in women’s shoes made of South African producers exported textiles and apparel worth R1.89 billion to improvement programme, which has dispersed more than R3.2 billion in the
leather. The designs range from fold-up pumps for other SADC countries. industry. This has already helped to create and retain 10 000 direct jobs handbags
Woolworths to court shoes, knee-high boots and The effects of globalisation in the late 1990s and early 2000s hit the and create 500 jobs through its investments in various companies. and
stilettos. local textile industry hard, as cheap imports from the Far East flooded the ) Skwambane is head of the textile and saddlery
“Weeks of work and thought go into every single market. clothing business unit at the IDC
design you see here,” says Mias. THEUNS KRUGER, Graphics24