 In November 2008, SLAM (SAFA Legal and Management) announced the launch of the United 4 Bafana Bafana official supporter range under the vision "Dress the Nation".
Its PR blurb expressed the commitment that "to contribute to the growth and further development of the South African clothing and textile industry, SLAM is working closely with Proudly South Africa to ensure that by 2010 the majority of Bafana Bafana's apparel range will be manufactured in South Africa".
With the Fifa African Confederation Cup event behind us and the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament around the corner, just how much of the official supporter apparel merchandise is being made in South Africa?
Over the last few months, I have posed this question to SAFA, to FIFA, to a retail chain and to contacts in the South African clothing industry, but am still none the wiser. So I decided to conduct some basic fieldwork in a large sports retail outlet at the GateWay mall in Durban last week, surreptitiously surveying the labels of various items. What did I find?
Bafana Bafana woven Beanies are made in China.
The swing tag on Bafana Bafana floppy hats confirms their status as official merchandise of the South African Football Association, and that the purchase of this product would contribute to the development of soccer in South Africa – but the hats are made in China.
 A white T-shirt with "Bafana Bafana" screen-printed on the front is identified as being manufactured by Sarragan AG – a Swiss "globally active corporation in the clothing and sporting goods industry with a focus on licensed products." Its website proclaims that "as a global organisation, we emphasize social conditions of employment and environmental friendly products in compliance with all requirements." The T-shirt, retailing at R160-00, bears a "Made in China" label.
A blue Fifa T-shirt with a large plastic iron-on Fifa logo (of such poor quality that the image is already cracking) is selling at R100-00 with a "Made in Mauritius" label.
FIFA bags (similar to shopping bags), with a very poorly silk-screened one-colour Fifa logo on brown fabric, are made in Pakistan. The bag is a very simple design, with no plastic panel reinforcing its base. This stock could easily have been made by some of the hundreds of South African income-generating community projects, thus empowering their members with skills and allocating a percentage of the proceeds to HIV/AIDS and poverty alleviation interventions. Juxtapose this concept with the fact that Pakistan's textile and clothing industry contributes 40% of its manufacturing employment base, accounting for 8.2% of its gross domestic product for the year July 2007 to June 2008, and exporting US$ 10.6 billion in related goods during this period.
It is widely known that a 'Made in China' label connotes production under sweat-shop conditions. In April last year, ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte blamed suppliers for the party's election T-shirts having been made in China. Unless SLAM can prove that their suppliers have sourced the official licenced apparel items from manufacturers that meet international labour regulations, we can be forgiven for presuming that this failure in accountability and social concern for South Africa's crippled job market prevails.
The apparel industry in Mauritius relies on imported labour from China and India, and an estimated 22 000 foreign workers are employed on the island. In 2007, the UK news agency Mail Online reported that a new Kate Moss TopShop fashion range was using sweatshops on the island to make the garments, where "Sri Lankans, Indians and Bangladeshis toil for 12 hours a day, six days a week, for minimal pay." Studies show that the Mauritian textile and clothing sector is of critical importance to the economic success of the country, contributing 12% to its GDP between 1990 and 2000.
In 2009, South African trade unions urged FIFA and the 2010 Soccer World Cup's Local Organising Committee (LOC) to ensure that the licenced apparel would not come out of sweatshops. The International Textile and Garment Leather Workers' Federation called upon FIFA to disclose the origins of the products. The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (SACTWU) has reportedly signed an agreement with the LOC that all producers of FIFA-branded sportswear in South Africa should be members of the clothing bargaining council.
Will the unions follow-up and ask for verification of the Chinese, Mauritian and Pakistani suppliers? Should we not, as consumers, be demanding such verification? It is one thing to "dress the nation" – but what about "redress for our nation"?
Renato Palmi runs Redress Consultancy, a South African apparel industry research and consultancy organisation.
References
- http://www.docstoc.com/docs/19860675/United-4-Bafana-Bafana-%E2%80%93-Official-Supporter-Range-Launch-FOR 24 November 2008
- Textile Intelligence: www.textileintelligence.com November 2009
- Mail Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-474892/Topshop-accused-using-slave-labour-produce-Kate-Moss-range.html August 2007
- Business Day, August 2009
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The answer to this is quite simple......PRICE.
As a buyer, it is incredibly frustrating to source and manufature products locally. There are restrictions such as suppliers not having the capacity to manufature fabric and trims locally, therefore importing it at premium costs and not to mention the taxes and duties that come with it.
Another restriction is technology. Local manufaturers do not have the same level of machinery to produce the higher end products.
All things aside, it is a catch 22 for us as buyers in SA. We would love to source all our stock locally and at an affordable price, but is the consumer willing to pay a premium price for this currently and where will the kickstart for local suppliers come from to equip them with proper capacity and machinery?