As a designer and manufacturer of unique and quality branded products for the South African and sub-Saharan African corporate customer, the Johannesburg-based C&R Brand Solutions sees itself as a company that drives job creation and skills upliftment. Yet that part of the business would not be sustainable without the import component. “There are so many challenges facing producers in South Africa that manufacturing alone is simply not sustainable,” said Costa Kondylis, CEO of C&R Brand Solutions. “We are successful as a brand solution company – which offers a wide range of custom-made corporate branding products to our clients for use as corporate gifts, staff uniforms, events and campaigns as well as items for designated corporate stores – because we can offer our clients a wide variety of choice across a broad spectrum of products,” he said. According to Kondylis, the choices in South Africa are limited. “It is difficult to fill the manufacturing gaps locally as South Africa doesn’t have all the industries required.” Marketing director for the company, Sandy Ehrenreich, told FTW that for this reason C&R imported a wide variety of products from China, choosing to add the branding identity locally and distribute them from the South African manufacturing facility. “China mostly meets the gaps we cannot fill by offering a wide array of cost-effective, innovative products and we stay competitive by being able to offer much more than we can produce ourselves,” she said, adding that although some of the products were imported, all were still tailored according to customers’ custom-branding needs at the factory. “We will add a logo, change a colour or add some extra detailing to the design to make sure the product we sell still has a high value to the customer and promotes their brand in the right way. We are responsible for how the market perceives our client’s brand and will therefore work closely with our import partners to ensure quality and high standards.” Ehrenreich admitted that this had become more challenging as China was evolving as a global trading partner and therefore its export offering was changing too. “However, we still see them as a strong export partner as they continue to offer the best choice at the most competitive prices.” Shaun Esson, managing director of C&R Brand Solutions, said local manufacturers also faced the challenge of continual disruptions in production, whether through labour unrest or electricity shut-downs. “This drastically affects our competiveness as a manufacturing country as our labour force is not only becoming increasingly more expensive compared to other emerging markets, but they are not as productive.” He added: “We operate in a first world economy, yet are constantly having to overcome second- or thirdworld challenges.” According to Esson, the way to overcome this is by building capacity and selfsufficiency. Kondylis said that C&R Brand Solutions achieved this by keeping a lot of its additional services in-house. “We create our own designs, we largely manufacture our own textiles, create the finished products in our factories, store and handle our clients’ stock in our warehouse and we manage our own national distribution.” Some fabrics – mainly for the lounge shirts – are sourced from India, said Kondylis, as it is more cost-effective to import the textiles than for the company to create them. “Otherwise, the bags, golf shirts, jerseys, embroidered aprons and more are created from scratch.” According to Esson, this keeps the company competitive as it can ensure a high standard, tailor-make products according to customer specifications – from the colour to the quality of the fabric to the design. He conceded that with increasing numbers of cheap textile imports flooding the country, it was more challenging to stay ahead of the pack as a textile manufacturer. “But our business proposition has always been high quality, unique products and our customers have come to expect that from us, and continue to want that over the threadbare T-shirt that won’t last past the event it is created for,” he said. Kondylis noted that the company also handled its own national distribution to keep costs down and ensure timeous, reliable deliveries. C&R uses preferred logistics partners outside of the country’s borders. “Our partners, such as Sasfin Premier Logistics, have the experience and understanding of intricacies and variables of the supply chain in Africa and so we defer to them for our wider distribution,” he said. INSERT There are so many challenges facing producers in South Africa that manufacturing alone is simply not sustainable. – Costa Kondylis CAPTION The knitting mill produces all the fabric used to manufacture the bespoke garments created by C&R Brand Solutions. It currently has the capacity to manufacture 33 tons of fabric per month. Photo: Shannon Van Zyl Top import challenges Quality of products not as high As China, the company’s biggest import source market moves towards a more capitalist focus, the factory owners are becoming used to a Western lifestyle. As a result, labour in China is more expensive but also less productive and the quality of the products has deteriorated at some of the factories. “Importers have to be extra careful in their business dealings with the factories lately to ensure the same high standards,” said Esson. Unreliable delivery times As trade with China increases, ports are becoming more congested and factories are located further away from ports. “On-time deliveries are almost a thing of the past,” said Esson. Factories are moving further inland As the emerging countries such as China and India become more affluent, the cost of living is going up in the cities so migrant workers are not returning to the urban factories. As a result, a lot of factories are setting up closer to hometowns. Essen pointed out that as a result the transport of exports to the ports was more expensive, which increased the price of the goods. Domestic demand growing Chinese consumers are becoming more aspirational and domestic demand for goods is increasing which sometimes means fewer choices for importers. “To meet this challenge, we often have to be a little more innovative with the choice that is out there,” noted Esson. AFRICAN EXPANSION As C&R Brand Solutions’ clients – which include several blue-chip companies – expand their brands on the African continent, so does the company that helps to grow those brands. “There are major opportunities in Africa and we are strategically expanding our footprint,” said CEO Costa Kondylis. The company’s managing director, Shaun Esson, told FTW that in many African countries, there were fewer barriers to doing business than in South Africa, which opened up trade opportunities. “We have been lucky to date that we have been able to grow largely on the back of our customers making use of further expansion opportunities,” said Kondylis. The company has also had a lot of success with word-ofmouth referrals. Kondylis told FTW that the company had strong partnerships in the African countries it serves. “Without having people in place to keep on top of regulation changes and ongoing restrictions, we would not be able to meet customer demands.” One of the biggest lessons it has learnt about doing business on the continent is to liaise regularly with its inland shipping depots to ensure it meets the ongoing regulation changes. “Getting the products to the borders is the easy part. Ensuring they are cleared to enter the country speedily can be challenging if the requirements have not been met,” said Kondylis. CAPTION Costa Kondylis, Sandy Ehrenreich and Shaun Esson. Photo: Shannon Van Zyl
