A group of thieves with an eye for fashion pillaged through a clothing warehouse in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, over the weekend, robbing Sneakers International of more than R1-million worth of clothing and shoes.
The thieves disabled the alarm system on the roof and entered the warehouse on Saturday night at about 10.30pm, intending to steal R1,5-million worth of high-fashion clothing brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Jeep and Reef.
They then opened the garage to allow a truck to get inside in order to carry about 600 boxes weighing 18kg each, which contained new Christmas stock consisting of T-shirts, board shorts, bags, sandals and flip-flops.
Christmas shoppers will also be hard pressed to find popular surfing brands such as Quicksilver and Billabong in any Sneakers shops this Christmas since about R600Â 000 worth of each brand’s clothing and accessories was also stolen.
The robbers even decided to do their own fashion makeovers after they had finished loading the getaway truck. Sneakers International employees found old clothes scattered around the warehouse and random boxes of certain brands cut open, with clothes missing.
Sneakers International CEO David Moss told the Mail & Guardian Online that the employees also found backpacks, which had been left behind, filled with clothing indicative of selective tastes. “One of them [the thieves] was obviously a big [Orlando] Pirates fan, because we found a backpack filled with Pirates paraphernalia,” he said.
“They were very selective with sizes — but they could be, they had all night,” said Moss.
About 1Â 000 pairs of new Soul Mates (a cheaper version of Crocs) were taken as well as 1Â 000 pairs of new sandals for men, women and children that were branded with local soccer and rugby teams.
The robbery happened during the company’s busiest time of year. Sneakers International supplies the chain store, Sneakers, which has branches at every major airport in the country as well as in shopping centres such as Sandton City and Menlyn Park. It relies heavily on December and January for its annual turnover.
Moss said it will be impossible to order new stock before Christmas as they had to make orders nine months in advance. Sneakers International is also not insured for robberies.
He added that he was willing to pay anybody the value of 10% of any goods recovered, “no questions asked”.
Speaking to the M&G Online, a devastated Moss said: “I’ve got nothing. I’ve got nothing. My wife is busy re-bonding the other warehouses in Durban to pay for this. It’s going to be a very sad Christmas for this company.”