Eight years ago, the Department of Trade and Industry was told it might as well abandon any hopes for a South African clothing and textile industry and accept that everything would have to be imported. It was a stark, but not outrageous, view. The local clothing, textile, footwear and leather industry had employed 220,800 people in 1996; by 2007 the job numbers had been cut to less than 100,000 and every indication was that, if not China, its neighbours would continue indefinitely to flood South Africa with their goods.Some key players in the industry as well as the department refused to accept this grim version of reality.Now the talk is of 125,000 jobs being created in the clothing market's rapidly growing "quick response" segment alone in the next four years. This compares with the estimated 80,000 people currently employed in all segments of the clothing manufacturing industry. (Industry experts point out the official figures understate the full level of employment as they exclude workers in factories that are not bargain-council compliant. Inclusion of these operations could bump up the figure by as much as 40,000 to 120,000.)story_article_left1"There are major employment opportunities in this industry," said Justin Barnes - a B&M Analysts consultant who wrote a detailed report for the department in 2009 on why this did not need to be a dying industry. "We have an opportunity to get back to the employment levels seen in the early '90s," said Barnes.But this time around it will be with a highly competitive industry and one that does not rely on steep tariffs to protect it from imports. Barnes talks about not only supplying local retailers but also the export market.The demise of the South African industry since the mid-'90s was due in large part to the government's decision to cut tariffs faster and to a lower level than required by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the precursor to the World Trade Organisation). The low tariffs removed much of the protection needed by an inefficient industry that had consistently underinvested and had relied heavily on tariffs to insulate it from competitive international players.When China joined the WTO in 2001, things got a lot worse. The most successful South African clothing retailers quickly established offices in China to develop systems that would ensure quality control and a steady supply of product. Local manufacturing was haemorrhaging jobs.Four years ago, things began to change. A Spanish-owned operator called Zara had become the world's largest fashion retailer because of its merchandising strategy, one that was at odds with the notion of the six-month lead times involved in sourcing from China or elsewhere in Asia.The company has turned sourcing for fashion retailing on its head; it receives deliveries twice a week at its 6500 stores of products, designed three weeks earlier. Store managers place orders twice a week based on sales data and evidence from shoppers' preferences. In this business model, referred to as "fast fashion", speed and flexibility are more important than price. By being more responsive to customers, fast fashion meant less need to discount slow-moving stock.As Zara grew steadily to become the world's largest fashion retailer, it begged to be mimicked by competitors across the globe.story_article_right2Back in Cape Town, the timing was right for Graham Choice, CEO of local manufacturer Prestige Clothing. Choice, who had been instrumental in establishing the Cape clothing and textile cluster in 2004, had not given up hope on the South African industry.Prestige was established as an independent manufacturer in 1988 (Choice said in all that time it has not had labour unrest).In early 2012 - to more effectively engage with the fast fashion strategy and develop a vertical supply chain - Prestige tied up with Foschini, with which it had a 20-year relationship. "The Foschini Group is the only retailer to build a local supply base and have a supply strategy based on fast fashion," said Choice.In the past three years the group has invested in cutting-edge technology at Prestige, boosted employee numbers by 22%, with 25% more on the cards, reduced store delivery lead times from more than 100 to 56 days and has improved delivery reliability from 53% to 84%. It has all fitted very well with the department's production incentive system, designed to encourage more competitive manufacturing. Over the three years the department has contributed tens of millions to Prestige's productivity-enhancing investments.Other retailers have not ignored local sourcing' s benefits . Truworths merchandise director Douglas Dare said about 35%-40% of its clothing was sourced locally - "especially for fast fashion and quick response, and we envisage it becoming an increasingly important part of our business". Woolworths sources 60% , by volume , of its clothing from the Southern African Development Community.For a country so desperately in need of jobs, it is a huge relief that stories of this industry's death proved to be exaggerated...