M. Comm. / The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the current tariff structure applicable to the South African clothing industry and use this information to formulate recommendations on the tariff and trade policy that would best benefit the industry and the economy. Chapter 1 provided an introduction to the analysis of the tariffs applicable to the clothing industry by defining the problem statement, the relevance of the study and the method of research. Analysis of the tariff structure is important to both the government and the private sector. The government needs this type of information to assist in their policy formulation as regards tariffs and trade and the private sector needs to be aware of the implications of government policy on their profits and performance. Chapter 2 provided a literature study of tariff theory and an international comparison, particularly as regards clothing tariffs. Chapter 3 provided background information on the South African clothing industry. Chapter 4 represented the body of the analysis and provided a detailed investigation into the current tariff structure applicable to the South African clothing industry. The aim of Chapter 2 was to outline theory relevant to tariff protection, particularly as regards the clothing industry. In order to achieve this, various aspects of tariff theory, the implications of protection, and the relationship between protection and trade policy were discussed. Prerequisites for successful tariff protection include the existence of effective domestic rivalry, the potential for a favourable 'diamond' (strategy, structure and rivalry; demand conditions; related and supporting industries; and factor conditions) and that the protection is limited in duration. The effective tariff rate (or effective rate of protection) expresses the tariff as a percentage of the value added by the exporting industry in question. Effective tariff rates are very important as the nominal tariff can be deceptive. Most industrial nations have a cascading tariff structure with low nominal tariffs on raw materials and higher rates the greater the degree of processing. Thus, exports like clothing which use partially processed materials (textiles or fabrics) can face substantially different effective tariff rates in comparison to their nominal tariff rates (in the case of clothing in South Africa, the effective rate is about three times higher than the nominal rate). Theory shows that positive effects of tariff protection include protecting employment, changing the distribution of income (this could be positive or negative, depending on who benefits), protection of infant industries or young economies, protection of strategic industries, providing income for governments (from a source that is less controversial than most income taxes) and protection from dumping. Dumping protection is a questionable point and is seen by many economists as an excuse for higher protection to make more profit, rather than as a legitimate effort to prevent a negative activity. Most of the positive effects of protection are accompanied by negative effects or may not achieve their desired outcome. Negative results of tariff protection include that protection often fails to stimulate exports and domestic output, protection tends to promote inefficient firm scale and entry, protection may be anti-competitive and it may encourage corruption. The most important of the negative factors is the promotion of inefficient firm scale and entry, the promotion of anti-competitive behaviour and the encouragement of corruption both on the part of tariff officials at points of entry, and politicians. All of these negative effects encourage businesses to behave in a complacent and inefficient manner. The impact of protection on the cost position of the clothing and textile industries in South Africa was discussed.

M.A. / The purpose of this study is to document and build an econometric model of the demand in the South African Clothing industry. It is important to study the clothing industry because it is labour intensive and thus its growth and development could contribute positively toward eradicating the unemployment problem in South Africa. With globalization of world economies and South Africa being a signatory to the GATT/WTO, the implications for this industry are manifold. The opening chapter lists the problem statement, identifies the method of research utilised and the relevance of the study. Chapter two looks at demand theory, particularly with regard to the quantitative techniques involved in its estimation. It focusses on regression theory and the evaluation of results generated. The third chapter gives a background to the South African clothing industry, and touches on amongst others aspects of current importance such as trade reform, international best practice and the key issues the industry has to deal with. Chapter four looks at the econometrics aspects of the study. A near perfect forecast was obtained, which attests to the stability and superiority of the model which is presented. The main findings of this study are that it is supply considerations such as the wage bill, costs of inputs (eg textile materials) etc which play an important part in the survival and prosperity of the industry. It is also reveals the fact that low productivity levels could be easily and quickly rectified through the introduction of new organizational practices and human resource development, development of quick response relationships and training to support new organizational practices. The study further and finally asserts that, while trade reform could necessitate painful adjustments the industry could actually come out a stronger world player

M. Tech. Fashion Design / Multi-Fibre Arrangement, which regulated all trade in the apparel manufacturing industries for four decades, ceased to exist in 2005, this resulted in a significant decline in employment, exports and market share of apparel manufacturing of South Africa as the case in many other African countries. Since 2005, the apparel manufacturing industry of South African has been battling to adjust adequately to environment of liberalised trade mainly due to strategic, infrastructural and skills factors. The lack of a skilled workforce, innovation and technology, fashion focusing strategies as well as a weak local supply chain remain challenging factors to competitiveness in the apparel manufacturing industry of South Africa. Apparel manufacturing industries appear to display weakness in responding to consumer demands and consequently, reorienting business strategies. Government has played its supportive role to the apparel manufacturing industry. As a result, apparel manufacturing SMMEs have being dying a slow death due to the lack of access to government supportive measures for the apparel manufacturing industry. In light of this, this paper examines how the apparel manufacturing industry in South Africa could develop a competitive advantage, both locally and internationally.

Thesis (BTech (Fashion Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / Children with autism experience fine motor difficulties that affect their ability to perform daily tasks. The purpose of this research study was to help improve these fine motor difficulties by teaching the child a specific skill which is to be able to dress oneself. The information gathered through the data gathering techniques described in this study, proved important in creating the practical component of this research study. It included a practical and functional children's wear range with a corresponding interactive Leam-To-Dress storybook. The findings of this study suggest that there is a need for the acquisition of the important life skill, to be able to dress oneself. This was made possible with the use of the interactive Leam-To-Dress. storybook with its' corresponding outfit

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The internet has introduced a new channel of sales to the retail industry. Traditionally, the bricks and mortar retail space has predominated the retail giants’ attention; however, the e-commerce space has introduced a new dynamic they cannot ignore. South Africa, as a developing country, has faced challenges with the availability of internet access across all its regions due to the geographical location and spread. Location and logistics are but a few of the challenges facing the e-commerce organisation and consumer. A review of the public literature has identified a gap in research into the critical success factors and challenges facing the clothing e-commerce industry in South Africa. The intention of this study was to identify key themes of critical success criteria and challenges facing the clothing e-commerce industry by interviewing e-commerce professionals. The open questions and challenges identified through these interviews were combined with open questions from the literature review to form a primary questionnaire that could be launched to a primary consumer market segment. This retail consumer market was approached through a mall intercept survey and an online survey to obtain a reasonable representation of internet users and non-internet users in the target sample. Key findings from the e-commerce professional and manager interviews ratified the key themes of the critical success factors and challenges identified in the public literature review. The interviews did, however, place stronger emphasis on product range, price and customer service as being key contribution areas for critical success factors. The research identified a good product range, experienced and skilled senior management, good customer service, a robust and quality logistics model, strong security and clearly defined efficient internal processes. The research also identified high delivery costs and delays, product promised is not the product delivered, inefficient return policies and low quality e-commerce websites as key challenges facing the clothing e-commerce industry. The researcher suggests that further research can be conducted on the consumer adoption rates of clothing e-commerce and the impact of the declining Rand on the profitability of clothing e-commerce in South Africa.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This report details the critical success factors for consideration in developing a quick response (QR) supply chain strategy for fashion apparel retailers in South Africa. Quick response is the recent supply chain management development that supports a fast fashion business model most evident within the North American and European fashion apparel market. A QR supply chain strategy differs from previous supply chain management principles as it utilises consumer data to create a demand driven network in order to co-ordinate functions through the supply chain. This differs from the standard ‘push’ model evident within the normal fashion apparel cycle and follows a more consumer-centric approach to product demand. The continued success and growth of four of the global fashion apparel, retail organisations as listed by Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing 2014 survey, is attributed to the ability of these retailers to respond in season to consumer demand. These leading organisations have effectively adapted and incorporated a QR strategy into their broader competitive offering. South African fashion apparel retailers have recently begun introducing the philosophy and operational strategy of QR to their overriding business strategy, however, current implementation is limited and the full advantages of QR practises in comparison to the northern hemisphere markets is not being realised. Based on the limited amount of local retail and manufacturing QR information, limited availability of sales data for statistical analysis, increasing levels of competition and slow economic growth, a clear understanding of QR is needed. Critically, phased implementation of QR in South Africa requires a clear understanding of the critical success factors (CSF) needed for upfront engagement between retailers and manufacturers. The primary research question was therefore, what are the critical success factors for QR implementation in the South African fashion apparel sector? The purpose of this research was to define a priority list of critical success factors for consideration by defining the scope of QR thinking within business and clarifying the degree and level of application in northern hemisphere markets as lessons for the local sector. Three research aspects were conducted in determining the critical success factors for South Africa. An academic literature review was used to describe the development of QR and identify those factors within the field of supply chain management. This was used to define the scope of questions and themes for interviews with local industry professionals. The results of these interviews were then compared to insights from case studies of global, fast fashion retailers in order to define the priority list of factors. The primary findings for the South African retail sector were: that effective QR implementation should be strongly aligned to the strategic positioning of retail and manufacturing cluster of organisations. Detailed consideration of the benefits for both supply chain members, as well as the level of communication and exchange of information was critical in developing the responsiveness required from the supply chain. Collaborative product design featured frequently within the research and required new processes and organisational structures to be implemented effectively. The findings of the research provide a concise, viable set of factors for retail and manufacturing engagement. These factors can be used to structure long term, sustainable quick response practises to enable greater adoption and implementation within the South African sector. This will encourage more close-to-home product development and enable retailers to better utilise local manufacturing resources while remaining competitive.

This reseacrh report is about the current role of the government/state in the restructuring of the clothing and textile industry in South Africa

M.Com. / The South African apparel industry is growing tremendously with a sales value of R129.9 billion expected by 2019 (Marketline, 2015). This is due to the growth in the middle class, the increase in disposable income, and the fact that the South African economy is focused on technology, finance, and e-commerce (online shopping) (Marketline, 2013:2). Consumers are being exposed to various shopping channel options, both offline and online, which has been found to influence their purchase intention (Voinea & Filip, 2011:17). Retailers should therefore aim to understand how the offline and online shopping channels they offer are affecting consumers, and, in particular, they need to understand consumers’ reasons and motivation for selecting one channel over another. The literature on the subject has found that there are two main factors influencing shopping channel choice: shopping channel attributes – cost, time, convenience, and customer service – and perceived risk factors – delivery risk, product risk, and security risk (Al-Hawari & Mouakket, 2012:641; Lin & Sun, 2009:461; Martin & Camarero, 2008:629; Huang & Oppewal, 2006:347; van Dijk, Laing & Minocha, 2005:1). Thus, by understanding the two sets of factors influencing shopping channel choice, retailers will understand why consumers select one channel rather than another – which will allow retailers to design appropriate shopping channels for their goods. This will improve their efficiency and engagement as they will be offering consumers shopping channels that appeal to them...

Introduction: Entrepreneurial fashion businesses are very important due to the employment, income, products and services they provide. The South African government has identified small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to address the economic challenges in this country. Entrepreneurship development is a means to economic development, which implies developing an entrepreneurial population. Aim: To acquire an integrated perspective on fashion entrepreneurs, their businesses and the technological environment in which they function, in order to understand the maintaining of a successful fashion business and to offer recommendations for the training and development of potential and existing fashion entrepreneurs. Method: A convenience sample of 100 fashion entrepreneurs in the Vaal Region was selected. A self-administered, structured questionnaire was compiled and used to gather the information. Section A focused on demographic background information, section B investigated entrepreneurial attributes, section C investigated the start-up and functioning of the business and section D concentrated on the technological environment. The instrument was tested for validity and reliability. Results: There were more female than male respondents, which corresponds with recent global statistics. The age distribution of these fashion entrepreneurs was quite balanced between younger, middle and older groups. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents were married, mostly with children aged older than 19 years. The majority of these fashion entrepreneurs had a tertiary qualification, but only a fifth had formal business training while negligibly few had formal training in business management or other business training. Six desirable entrepreneurial attributes were investigated and ranked in the following order: Leadership; Commitment and determination; Motivation to excel; Creativity, self-reliance and ability to adapt; Customer service; Tolerance of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty. All the attributes except the last one were scored quite high. They possessed most required entrepreneurial skills and knowledge, but lacked training in specific areas. Most ran their businesses as a sole career, employing one to four people and relied on the word-of-mouth advertising method. They used computers and information technology to a moderate extent and industrial equipment to a low extent.

M. Tech. (Fashion, Department of Arts and Design, Faculty of Human Sciences): Vaal University of Technology / Criteria used by fashion consumers to assess the quality of apparel products during the decision-making process are a good indication of what considerations to keep in mind for customer satisfaction. Evaluative criteria of concern to apparel customers are intrinsic attributes, involving physical features such as design/style, materials and construction and performance features such as aesthetic and functional aspects and extrinsic attributes such as price, brand, store image, label, country of origin and appropriateness for the occasion, in this case casual day wear. The broad research aim of this exploratory study was to determine which evaluative criteria were used by female fashion consumers in the Vaal Region to determine apparel quality when purchasing casual daywear, and to what extent the various criteria were applied. A self-administered, structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Sections 1 and 2 measured the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic clothing evaluative criteria. Section 3 investigated the frequency with which the respondents bought casual daywear at various store types, namely specialty, department and discount stores, while section 4 gathered the demographic information of the respondents. A representative sample was chosen from the academic personnel of all seven tertiary institutions in the Vaal Region. The majority of the lecturers (38.00 percent) were between the ages of 31 and 40, which can be described as relatively young, constituting a group sometimes referred to as baby busters or Generation X. Although the predominant population group was white (65.71 percent), a quarter of the respondents were black. They all had a tertiary qualification, indicating a relatively high educational level, and an average income. These espondents were predominantly married, either by orthodox or customary marriage. Regarding the application of evaluative criteria for quality assessment, these respondents used intrinsic apparel attributes to a greater extent than extrinsic attributes. Three functional performance aspects namely durability, comfort and fit were rated equal and most important for judging quality, followed closely by an extrinsic attribute namely appropriateness for casual daywear. Three clusters of respondents could be distinguished, each with a specific disposition towards the evaluative criteria. The most popular store type for clothing was Department stores, followed by Discount and Specialty stores.