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PRINTLabour takes the initiative in the clothing industry:
Job Creation Trust (JCT) unveils a brand new design house and saves an estimated 800 jobs
On 15 March the Job Creation Trust (JCT) will announce the establishment of The Creative Design Company (CDC), a design house cluster model that targets the local South African retailers. After months of planning, it has already secured the buy-in for its initial niche lines from retail groups with others in the pipeline. Involving both design and manufacture in the supply chain, the initial assumption was that CDC will sustain employment for about 298 employees essentially in the Western Cape, but an estimated 800 jobs were retained.
The added significance of this initiative is that the CDC will see the establishment of the first black-owned design house in South Africa and could just be the foundation needed to restructuring the clothing industry. CDC is 100% owned by the Job Creation Trust. The strategy is to initially have 4 to 6 key CMT’s in the Western Cape to produce the niche lines of the design house cluster. The target CMT must have at least 100 employees, and service a key retailer, with the objective of injecting Capex working capital and thereby increasing their staff compliment by 60% within 12 months.
The clothing sector in the Western Cape has had major challenges in the past 15 years and JCT believes that one needs to think creatively in meeting these challenges. There has been very little reinvestment in the sector in terms of equipment upgrading and skills development. Banks and other financial institutions have shunned this sector and access to finance for expansion has not been available. Coupled with the current recession and the remodelling of the clothing manufacturing sector, the question remains how to create jobs in the sector as well as to retain them.
The Design House Cluster provides the local retailers with a design and manufacturing (CMT’S) cluster along its supply chain to encourage procurement locally. This will help in addressing the needs of retailers for shorter delivery times, control over production quality and faster to market solutions. The initial discussions with 2 of the major retailers have proved positive. They have agreed to explore moving some key items to local onshore production; the retailers were impressed with labour’s investment commitment.
The design house will be more jobs driven than profit driven and this will enable the products to be competitively priced. The Creative Design Company has the proven expertise within its ranks to undertake the design and the procurement of fabric for key orders. The next step is to identify key CMT’s that are bargaining council compliant to undertake these orders. There is a DTI Clothing Cluster incentive that we will be exploring within the next month. Added support will be pursued from Clotex, CSIR and the Provincial Department of Economic Development.
Strategic Partners to be approached:
• DTI
• IDC
• Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Improvement Programmes
• Khula Enterprise Finance Ltd
• Western Cape Regional Government
• Clotex™ Clothing and Textile Centre
The Job Creation Trust has been creating sustainable jobs throughout South Africa for over 10 Years. The JCT is a trust registered through the Master of the High Court. The Trust’s function is to assist small businesses (co-operatives) and social enterprises from previously disadvantaged communities to create sustainable jobs. In the past ten years JCT has created over 38 000 jobs opportunities.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), The National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), and the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) founded the Job Creation Trust (the Trust – Trust number IT 1791/99) at the Presidential Job Summit of 1998. Asking workers to donate a day’s wages and companies to contribute one day’s profit, it was an initiative by organised labour to contribute and fight against unemployment in South Africa. At over 40%, unemployment exacerbates poverty and contributes to other social ills such as crime, disease and underdevelopment of communities. To date over R68-million disbursed and an estimated 38 000 job opportunities created.
Journalist are invited for a press briefing after the launch ceremony
Date: 15th March 2010
Time: 17h00 for 17h30 – 20h00
Venue: Presentation Room – Old Mutual Business School – Pinelands, Cape Town
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