As local fashion designers in South Africa work hard towards creating quality products and being able to succeed in what is an extremely competing sector, in today’s reality, global brands are making it even harder for them to grow. For a large number of years, local retailers were working amongst themselves. They had an idea of competition’s prices, the average time a product could last being manufactured, the kind of market they were facing and what their main differentiator was. Over the last 5 years however, globalization has not been an exception in south Africa, and a number of large retailers have decided to become present in the region.

Brands like Spain’s Zara, US’s Forever 21, the UK’s Topshop and Sweden’s H&M have been growing and consequently, placing a tension on local stores, which are already struggling to grow and maintain customers. Sadly these big companies’ runs are a lot longer and they are bale to get better prices due to their massive production, so they far more competitive.

JM Busha’ chief investment officer named Ashraf Mohamed notices that local designers are also obligated to compete with massive retailer’s advantage of mass production and economies of scale, so it is resulting in a very hard time for locals.

There are, however, benefits for local retailers and Muhammad gives his view on the subject. Based on recently released percentages of GDP of  3.3%, he believes the economy will offer favorable conditions for local designers. They can also count on the advantage of an established footprint and credit offering, since the support for buying local is increasing as well. The number one recommendation Mustapha says that fashion interested entrepreneurs should keep in mind in order to be able to compete is that is will be necessary to adjust their product/pricing and product differentiator.