Rise in fast fashion a concern for local clothing industry - Patel
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel has raised concerns about the rapid rise in fast-fashion e-commerce retailers that harm local businesses through aggressive undercutting of prices.
Patel was addressing the Proudly South African’s 12th annual Buy Local Summit and Expo (BLSE) at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Monday.
The event comes as South African clothing manufacturers are facing growing competition from Chinese fashion giant Shein and the recently launched Temu.
Due to its low cost, the company has grown into a global ecommerce contender with sales exceeding $24 billion for January to September 2023.
According to a Marketing All Product Survey (MAPS) around 250,000 South Africans are already shopping on Shein.
Patel said this remains a headache for the clothing and textile industry.
"There are challenges in the clothing industries that we need to address particularly the rise of the small parcel companies that are bringing goods in and advertise widely in our media, offer goods that are sold at lower prices but undercutting our domestic industrial base'’ said Patel.
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