The town week Cape Town Fashion festival is all set to begin next week. The festival will celebrate the success of the textile industry units that provide cotton for the globally acclaimed Nike running shoes. Similarly, achievements of a factory at Epping that manufactures the popular Levis jeans would also fêted at the festival.
However, this fashion festival will be not just a reason to celebrate. It is also a drive to serious programme to save jobs as the Cape Town industry, this year, has suffered from thousands of job losses. The principal cause of this situation is said to be the strong rand on exports and the resulting flood of imports into the country.
According to Ebrahim Patel, the General Secretary of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu), almost 12,000 actual jobs
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| were threatened countrywide, most of which would be lost in December. The union was struggling to save another 5,000 jobs, Mr Patel added.
Moreover, nearly 6,000 people have lost their jobs in the clothing, textile, leather and footwear sector throughout the country.
To deal with the crisis, the Union has been looking for a way to review the tariff lines, particularly in the labour intensive parts, a review of current export incentive schemes and some rescue packages.
In addition, government engagement reaching an effective solution and commitment from the retailers to sources 90% of their products from the local manufacturers is also hoped for.
Thus, in such state of affairs, for the first time in its history the fashion festival will be addressed by leading bureaucrats such as Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni and Erwin to tackle the industry issues. 
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