Strike up the brand!

12 Nov 2014 - by Adele Mackenzie

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.