Made in South Africa. Buy local. Love Local. Proudly South African. You’ve seen these campaigns and the associated slogans, often printed on clothing labels. But have you wondered what it means for a garment to be “made” in South Africa?
I assume that most people agree that a Made in South Africa label should not be attached to clothes made in non-compliant factories that underpay and overwork poorly treated garment workers. But should there be other criteria as well? Should poor quality clothes be excluded? What would that mean in practice?
Stefan Gerber has a great idea of what Made in South Africa should mean. At the recent Karoo Winter Wool Festival, Stefan, the founder of local wool brand Gerber & Co, said that for him a Made in South Africa woollen jumper starts with shearing sheep on his farm, washing the wool in the company’s scouring facility and finally knitting and embroidering the jumper in their factory. This means that all the steps along the value chain take place locally.
But do government and industry agree with this definition?
In response to an email asking them for their definition of locally made, The Foschini Group and Woolworths both referred to the assembly stage of making clothes. This is when clothes are cut, made and trimmed in local factories, commonly known as CMTs.
Head of sustainability at The Foschini Group Helen Twemlow says, “When TFG refers to locally made apparel, we mean garments that have been cut, made and trimmed using locally produced or imported fabric, or a combination of both.”
Chief product officer for Woolworths’ fashion, beauty and home section, Lawrence Pillay says, “To be considered locally made, we require that the item be made in a factory in South Africa. Fabric may be sourced beyond our borders, particularly where specific composition blends or characteristics are required.”
At Mr Price Group, head of sustainability, Natasja Ambrosio says the group has no formal policy about Made in South Africa, but that the government’s Retail, Clothing, Textile, Footwear, and Leather Masterplan sets the framework for localisation. For Natasja, Made in South Africa means “any product made in RSA that either maintains exiting jobs or creates new jobs. This will include products that are assembled and/or made using raw materials that are either manufactured locally or imported.”
The retailers’ definition is in line with the policy for Country of Origin labelling required by the Consumer Protection Act (CPA 68 of 2008, regulation 6). If the label states “Made in South Africa”, the product should be wholly assembled in Republic of South Africa, otherwise the product will not qualify for such a label. The label should indicate when a South African textile manufacturer has used imported greige [raw, unfinished, and unbleached woven or knitted fabric straight off the loom] fabric to produce dyed, printed or finished fabric, that such fabric has been dyed, printed or finished in South Africa from imported fabric, and it should indicate where a locally manufactured product uses imported material, that the product is “made in South Africa from imported material”.
While the R-CTFL masterplan sets out the South African government’s vision for how to revive the industry, the focus is on job creation through localisation.
“The [R-CTFL masterplan] objective is to increase localisation which means that we want more products manufactured locally as opposed to it being imported,” says director of Clothing and Textiles at Department of Trade and Industry Elaine Smith. “The distinguishing factor would be locally manufactured, be it from fibre-to yarn-to-fabric-to-garment or [just] from fabric to garment. If it was previously imported, that would be localisation.”
Proudly South African is a non-profit organisation supported by government. It does advocacy work to influence the buying behaviour of consumers, private business and the public sector in favour of those locally grown, produced and manufactured goods and services. While Proudly SA does have rigorous guidelines, CEO of Proudly South African Eustace Mashimbye says, “We are acutely cognisant that in our definition of locally produced goods, we need to be pragmatic and bear in mind that it is not always possible to have the entire production chain and materials sourced and produced locally.”
According to its most recent annual report, companies that bear the Proudly South African logo have been audited for local content, quality, fair labour practices and adherence to environmental legislation. The specific requirements are:
- At least 50% of the cost of production must be incurred in South Africa and there must be substantial transformation of any imported materials;
- The product or service must be of a proven high quality by submitting industry related certification including test results from South African National Accreditation System-accredited laboratories, quality management systems tested by external verification bodies etc;
- The company must be environmentally responsible and adhere to production processes that are environmentally friendly and acceptable;
- The company must comply with labour legislation and adhere to fair labour practices.
Across all sectors of the clothing and textile sector, there are private and public organisations committed to growing this industry. The R-CTFL masterplan asks retailers to voluntarily increase sales of locally sourced garments from 30% to 65% by 2030. This would increase manufacturing of local garments, and in turn more jobs will be created. (In the first quarter of 2026 more than 30% of the national working population was unemployed.)
But the question we need to grapple with is what locally sourced means. How we answer that question has huge implications: if Stefen Gerber’s definition is used, the amount of locally sourced clothes would be a small fraction of what retailers are selling as made in South Africa. But then the targets would probably be unrealistic and would have to be changed. On the other hand, consumers should be able to distinguish between Made in South Africa from Mostly Made in South Africa.
While we build, we need to have a clear idea of what a locally manufactured garment should be and how much value it can add to the local economy without causing harm to people or nature. Made in South Africa should stand for social and cultural inclusion, environmental sustainability and quality. It should also tell consumers something about what they are paying for.
- Feature image by Lam Lai: MUNKUS presents a collection titled Iphupho during the 2024 #GiveHerACrown campaign in New York
