Edgars, South Africa’s largest mass retailer, has thrown its weight behind the local design industry by launching a clothing line that features seven South African designers.
The retail chain launched its ‘Designers at Edgars” streetwear range on April 27 in 11 flagship stores around the country.
One of the featured designers, Jacques van der Watt, said the initiative will move haute couture from the pages of magazines on to the backs of South African consumers. ‘It’s really amazing, because high fashion has never been distributed widely,” he said. ‘It brings local designers to the mass market. People who wouldn’t normally be exposed can see that the products are very desirable.”
Along with consumers, local producers in the struggling clothing industry stand to benefit from the emphasis on innovation and design, according to industry analysts.
Not all of the garments in the Edgars designer range will be manufactured locally, however, and the denim will be produced in China. As an offset, a percentage of the profits will go to a local charity of the designers’ choice.
While the South African Clothing and Textiles’ Workers Union has campaigned for retailers to buy from local manufacturers, they have also argued that a greater emphasis on design will enable the clothing industry to survive in a highly competitive environment of global trade in the apparel industry.
Analysts characterise the industry as consisting of two production chains: cheaper, basic items for the lower end of the market, and more expensive, higher-quality garments for the upper end.
South Africa faces stiff competition from countries such as China when producing for the lower end of the market, said Pamela Khumalo, an analyst at the Industrial Development Corporation. She said the industry would do better to focus on the more design-intensive area of niche markets.
Edgars’s decision to pick up local designers follows in the steps of another big retail chain and has been ‘a long time coming,” said Dion Chang, a trends analyst.
In 2004, Woolworths decided to retail local fashion designers, including Stoned Cherrie and Maya Press. The deal has reportedly earned Woolworths R65million per annum.
Edgars’s initiative to produce high fashion at lower prices also reflects a global retail trend, said Edgars trend analyst Sandy Rogers.
Late last year, H&M, an international retailer headquartered in Sweden, decided to collaborate with British fashion designer Stella McCartney. The range was reportedly very successful and the London headquarters was sold out within hours of its launch.
Each designer working with Edgars produces under a label that is exclusive to the range in Edgars.
So, while Van der Watt designs the Black Coffee label and retails it in his own store, he designs the label Black for Edgars.
Other labels for sale in Edgars are Nation by Craig Native, Bozza by Bongiwe Walaza, Fly Holmes by Holmes Brothers, Broke ‘n’ Twisted by Jonty Olmesdahl and Ephymol Jeans by Ephraim Molingoana.
While Chang described Edgars’s initiative as a lifeline for the design industry, he said that large retailers take on a lot of risk by collaborating with fashion designers: ‘It’s a very scary thing for them to do. It’s a brave step.”
Edgars, in particular, took a risk by working with names that are less well known than the labels Woolworths brought on board, he said.
Yet, he said Edgars’s decision to launch a designer range of denim streetwear, and not luxury wear, would make the venture more viable. More daring styles operate more freely in the younger market and in the lower price range, he added.
Chang said it was critical for retail groups to help local designers overcome difficulties presented by the structure of the clothing and textile industry. For example, local designers struggle to get the fabrics they need from the local market because local textile producers typically produce huge runs for export.
‘You have designers who are getting exports orders they can’t fill, and factories losing jobs. It’s an insane situation,” he said. ‘Edgars is taking the handle in this by taking that manufacturing strain out of the designers’ hands.”
Because Edgars can produce high volumes of clothing, they can sell garments at lower prices than designers.
Edgars sells Van der Watt’s designs for an average price of R400, which is about half what his clothes cost in his Melville boutique.
The retail chain produces about 300 to 500 of his items, compared to the runs of five or even one item that he sells in his store. ‘In terms of chain stores, it’s very exclusive. But exclusivity in my store is in a different league,” said Van der Watt.
Consumers rifling through the clothing racks at Edgars will not find the garments Van der Watt has showcased under the Black Coffee label on the ramps of South African Fashion Week.
‘The main line [the Black Coffee label] is very aspirational and a lot of people can’t afford it,” he said, ‘The diffusion line [the Black label for Edgars] reminds them of the main line, so they feel that they can buy a part of that identity.”
Van der Watt said that consumer buying patterns are critical for the success of South Africa’s fashion industry. ‘There’s been a culture among consumers that imported is better, among high-end luxury goods,” he said. ‘We almost need a section of the Proudly South Africa campaign to be for high-end fashion.”
Jacques van der Watt’s Black Coffee haute couture is available at his new boutique in the Bamboo Centre, 53 Rustenburg Road, Melville, Jo’burg. Call 011 482 9148 for more information