7 of 2016

 

 Newsletter No. 7 11 March 2016

                     

FALKE WOMEN DEBUTS AT MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK

Legwear specialist Falke South Africa will be making their women’s legwear range debut on the catwalk at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Johannesburg with upcoming designer Tsotetsi KL.  The collaboration will hit the ramp at 19h30 on Saturday, 12 March to showcase their autumn/winter 2016 collections, with footwear from Stuttafords.

This year Falke celebrates over a century of knitting and weaving in Europe as well as more than forty years of investment in South Africa and its craftspeople.   The luxury of space, the eloquence of light and shade and a subtle sense of confidence always guide the Falke style. The A/W 2016 collection features refined, luxurious, natural fibres, which are beautifully engineered for perfect fit and sensual feel against the skin.  Falke legwear is purpose-designed and refined for ultimate function and confidence in our demanding local climate and lifestyles.

Groomed by Africa Fashion International as an emerging designer, Khothatso Tsotetsi has been a front-row favourite at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week since he made his show debut in 2012.  He first caught Falkee’s attention as a winner of the Environmentally Friendly Fashion category in the 2011 Eco Design Competition and went on to exhibit at Malmo in Sweden.  He has designed a collection for the launch of the Mercedes-Benz A Class, designed an ensemble for the British High Commissioner of South Africa and showcased a collection in Paris at BFWP in 2014. Khothatso Tsotetsi is a truly global South African talent.

This Tsotseti KL collection draws its inspiration from Falke’s ethos and conveys both quiet strength and sophisticated lines – creating a powerful sense of quality and luxury.

According to Falke marketing and design executive Carol Stent, they are looking forward to seeing the final product on the runway.  “Khotatso creates exciting shapes, and he holds the integrity of bold, rich African decoration alongside an easy, confident urban chic.  His collection shows exquisite structure and clean, uncluttered detail.  In this collaboration, Falke and Tsotetsi KL share the desire to support and stimulate our richly creative local talent, to continue to develop and grow our local manufacturing industries, and to contribute to global recognition of local craftsmanship,” mentions Stent.

SACTWU finalises its 2016 workplace wage mandates

 

The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has now concluded its 2016 workplace wage mandating processes.

Since mid-January this year to date,  SACTWU has completed the collection of wage mandates at all workplaces where we are unionised.

The process covered 1500 workplaces nationally,  6000 general meetings (an average of 4 per workplace), and approximately 85 000 SACTWU members participated.

These demands were collected directly from workers, in our industry, by SACTWU staff and our 2000 shop stewards, in all parts of South Africa.

We have collected approximately 15 000 separate substantive collective bargaining demands (an average of 10 per workplace), mainly covering wages as well as a range of other collective bargaining related demands, such as retirement benefits improvements, shift allowances, health care provisions, maternity rights, holiday pay and general worker rights issues.

This year, 2016, is a collective bargaining year for all SACTWU’s industrial major sectors. This follows on the expiry of our long term wage agreements (most of which was for 2 years),  at the end of June this year.

The collected workplace wage demands are now being consolidated into Regional sectoral demands, for SACTWU’s five constitutional Regions (KZN, W Cape, E Cape, Gauteng and our Head Office Project – which covers the Free state and surrounding areas-).

Our Regional sectoral wage demands will now be consolidated into national sectoral demands, at SACTWU’s 2016 National Bargaining Conference, which takes place 0n 17-21 March 2016.03.

Our National Bargaining Conference will be attended by 400 shop stewards from all parts of the country, and drawn from all industrial- and other sector workplaces where we are organised (mainly clothing, textiles and leather).

Our actual wage negotiations with employers are due to begin in mid-April this year. At its conclusion later this year,  our collective bargaining agreements are, combined, expected to cover just over 100 000 workers in our industry, nationally.

Issued by

__________________
Andre Kriel
SACTWU
General Secretary

If further comments are required, kindly contact SACTWU’s Deputy General Secretary, Chris Gina on office number 031 3011351 or cell number 082 90 9456

ITL Continue To Expand Internationally and Increase Their Product Range

2016 promises to be a stand-out year for ITL, the South African owned Global Apparel Label supplier who has already enjoyed spectacular growth amid a backdrop of continued product and regional expansion.

The company, owned by the SA Bias Group and headquartered in Cape Town, is already well known to many South African apparel retailers and manufacturers and enjoys strong market share with a wide range of blue-chip clients including Woolworths, Truworths, TFG, Edcon, Ackermans and Cape Union Mart.

Whilst it’s the company’s South African origins that have laid the foundations for ITL’s long term success, it has been their ability to spot emerging trends and customer needs that has seen them grow into one of the largest and most powerful global businesses in their sector.

In an era where domestic manufacturing costs  soared and recognising that South African apparel retailers had to look further afield to source their products, ITL was quick to set up operations in a number of strategic global locations to ensure continuity of service for their customers. This plan appears to have been an outstanding success for the company who now operate in 16 worldwide locations including, China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Mexico.

As Bev Webster, ITL’s SA Marketing Director explains “In order for the company to continue growing, we recognised that we needed to evolve. South African customers have always valued the service and support that we offer with our products and that has allowed us to hold a dominant position in our market. Our customers however, have come under increasing cost pressures and have had to reassess their strategies, leading to a significant increase in off-shore sourcing. “

Setting up this global network of factories, has enabled ITL to partner with its established customers and created significant relationships in new markets in the process. As well as a strong global manufacturing footprint, ITL has dedicated marketing offices in North America and Europe and has become an established supplier to some of the best known apparel brands and retailers in the world including Victoria’s Secret, Marks and Spencer, Zara and H&M.

ITL has made significant investments in RFID, a technology that allows for much faster reading of in-store product information than conventional barcodes and something they consider could dominate the industry within the next 5 years. “As retailers embrace internet consumption and the advent of faster fashion cycles, the need to operate leaner supply chain models has increased significantly. RFID allows our customers to control the accuracy of their inventory and empowers them to replenish without over-committing to stock levels.”

By being able to offer a full portfolio of inlays, an end-to-end software solutions and a range of professional services to support business case studies, aligned to a global network of wholly owned factories, it seems feasible that RFID could well be the initiative that propels ITL’s growth to the next level.

ITL Apparel Label Solutions is a global manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of apparel label solutions. Their product offerings include woven labels, heat transfers, graphic tags, variable data and printed fabric label solutions to a wide range of apparel retailers, brands and manufacturers all over the world, with a reputation for service, quality and innovation.

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Did you Know…….

Did you know that denim has it’s origins in the late 17th century, from French serge de Nîmes, denoting a kind of serge from the manufacturing town of Nîmes?

The origin of Neck Ties: They were first worn in Croatia; that’s why they were called cravats (CRO-vats) – Who would have guessed?

An item of clothing is considered vintage designer clothes if it dates back from 1920 to 1960. Anything after this date is considered retro.

Mary Phelps, a young New Yorker socialite used handkerchiefs to design the first  rudimentary bra 1914. Women everywhere loved Mary’s new design and Ida Rosenthal eventually started designing bras with different cup sizes.

Did you know……

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Before 1850 The skirt is the second oldest women’s garment in history.

Clothes were hand stitched by those that wore them. Clothes were not made for fashion, but rather for commodity.

In the 1500’s fashion designers showed off their designs by making doll size clothing versions of their own

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Editorial Submission:

Please remember to send me your news so that we can share it with all our readers in the weekly newsletter.

Although editorial is neither guaranteed nor implied, suitable editorial for consideration may be submitted to:

Carla Finlay

carla@newsbriefs.co.za

0724055930