The pandemic has made the trading environment extremely difficult in South Africa, both in terms of footfall in specialist stores and product availability through supply chain challenges. As such, many stores that retail ready-to-wear designer apparel and footwear were forced out of business and this has in turn has impacted product availability.
With the discovery of new variants of COVID-19 and the slow rollout of vaccination rates in the rest of Africa, European markets closed their borders or cancelled flights to much of the region, making shopping for affluent consumers a challenging task. Borders to South Africa remained open to the majority of the world for the much of the year, despite the fact that new emerging variants meant that source markets such as the UK introduced stringent quarantine measures for travellers returning from the country later in the year.
Surtee Group strengthened its leadership of designer apparel and footwear in South Africa in 2020, gaining further value share to dominate the category. Compared to its competitors such as Power of Trading (Pty) Ltd, and International Timepiece & Fashion (Pty) Ltd, which recorded double-digit value declines, the leader only suffered marginal loss of value sales.
With the ever-changing environment, predictions for some level of recovery for designer apparel and footwear are not overly optimistic for the forecast period. Some improvement in demand is expected once restrictions are lifted and consumers return to the workplace and begin socialising more regularly, encouraging them to invest in their wardrobes again.
The “local is lekker” motto has gained traction in South Africa, especially since the emergence of the pandemic and domestic businesses were struggling through store closures and declining demand. In an attempt to send a strong message and lead by example, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, was seen wearing a locally-produced suit at Sona 2022 (State of the Nation Address).
Over the review period, associations of celebrities and influencers with designer apparel and footwear brands helped to maintain customers’ interest in luxury brands. However, in the wake of the pandemic, store closures, changes in consumers’ values and a locally grim economic reality, less brand interest emerged.
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Designer Apparel and Footwear (Ready-to-Wear)
This is the aggregation of designer apparel and designer footwear.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Designer Apparel and Footwear (Ready-to-Wear) research and analysis database.
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