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As part of its efforts to continually put the #BuyLocalToCreateJobs mantra on the governance and political agenda, Proudly South African will extend its #WearLocal campaign to form part of activities of the 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA) taking place on Thursday, 09th February in Cape Town. 

The #WearLocal campaign is an effort by Proudly South African to promote and encourage the uptake of locally made clothing and textiles by South Africans from all sectors of society in the country in an effort to stimulate our economy as well as retain and create new jobs.

South Africa’s clothing and textiles sector has seen massive declines since the 90’s and this has largely been due to cheap clothing and textile imports from countries which include China, India, and Pakistan. In 1998, South Africa’s clothing and textiles sector used to account for R7 billion of manufacturing sales, and that has declined to only R2 billion by January 2022 according to South African Market Insights.

Proudly SA’s #WearLocal SONA campaign will target policymakers in an attempt to encourage them to craft, approve and implement policies which favour South African manufacturers, and to create a trade environment which is ripe for the growth of the Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather manufacturing sector. 

“We believe wholeheartedly in the potential of the CTFL sector, which has been a longstanding focus area for the Proudly SA campaign. We’ve put a focus on this sector over the festive season, as well as through our Local Fashion Police campaign, which encouraged the public to wear local to stand a chance to win thousands of rands worth of local fashion,” said Happy MaKhumalo Ngidi, chief marketing officer of Proudly SA. 

Over and above encouraging members of parliament and the guests attending SONA to choose to wear local, on public platforms, Proudly SA will also profile a selection of member companies in that sector, focusing on the number of jobs that these businesses have created.

Proudly SA’s #WearLocal campaign can be followed across social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. For more information about Proudly South African visit www.proudlysa.co.za

Issued by Proudly SA