South Africa is fighting to revive its frayed clothing industry, which at one time was a key provider of jobs in a country that had high unemployment due to the fact that a tsunami of cheap imports forced local factories to shut down and lay off workers. The glut of cheap products from China has led to the loss of nearly two-thirds of the sector’s jobs in the past two decades.

The clothing factory in Verulam, north of the port city of Durban, shut down post many years of fighting low demand for its products. The grim situation forced the government to intervene while business has called for a radical policy overhaul to stem the crisis. Inside a factory, workers sat in front of rows of sewing machines, stitching at a brisk pace to fulfil daily orders from a local chain store. It is one of the producers benefitting from government grants and loans designed to help companies recapitalise their operations.

Christopher Kinross, who runs a clothing company that bears his name and employs 253 people says, “We’ve had a very rocky ride, and we have lost ground to the rest of the world. The industry is stagnant at the moment.” The government’s scheme had brought some stability. However, more needs to be done to promote competition and create jobs.

One of the main challenges facing the industry is a tax on importing raw materials essential for manufacturers. “We pay 22 per cent duty on imported fabrics. If they remove that duty, our businesses could grow in a spectacular fashion,” he said. Years of talks to remove the duty have been unsuccessful and there are no quotas on clothing imports.

South Africa’s textiles and clothing sector contributes 3.3 per cent to the nation’s overall economic output and is heavily reliant on domestic consumption. Foreign investment in apparel has skipped South Africa and gone to Lesotho, Swaziland and Madagascar, among other African nations.