PEP Clothing : Clothing with Culture
Pep Clothing has been producing carefully crafted garments for more than 50 years, its longevity a product of a company culture that puts people at its heart.
Pep Clothing
The Fabric of South AfricaPep Clothing provides insight into the current market conditions for the garment manufacturing industry in South Africa and the company’s biggest achievements as we approach the end of 2014Writer Emily JarvisProject Manager Tom Cullum Q: That makes you a unique contender in the clothing market?Apparel manufacturer Pep Clothing (a division of Pepkor Retail Limited) has been supplying garments to leading southern African retailers for the past 40 years. Our manufacturing operations are situated 10 minutes’ drive from Cape Town International Airport and 25 minutes from the shipping harbour in Cape Town, South Africa. As a low-cost, high-volume mass manufacturer, Pep Clothing is unique within the southern African clothing industry.We have always invested heavily in training and developing of our team members through internal and external interventions. We have a culture of personal growth and mutual respect. Consequently, this has enabled us to achieve excellence in our processes which ensures that we continuously deliver high quality products with consistent quality performance year after year. Product consistency is extremely important in the school clothing market, as consistency in product quality is essential for repeat orders. We stand out from the crowd as a result of this commitment to our customers and our team culture.Q: Talk me through your main achievements for this yearOur main objective was to stabilise performance during our extensive factory renovations, as well as reducing waste in the process. We are proud to report that we have to date managed to recover all production losses that were a result of the renovations.…
Pep Clothing
The fabric of a community For South Africa's Pep Clothing there is more to life than loss or profit. Writer Chris Farnell Project manager Tom Cullum For more than 40 years, Pep Clothing, the manufacturing division of Pepkor, has been clothing South Africa. the company has been dedicated to providing every variety of high quality apparel. "We're more than 40 years old," boasts Marthie Raphael, Pep Clothing's general manager. "the first factory operated in KwaZulu- Natal, and we soon founded another division in Cape Town. 25 years ago we moved both of those divisions into one building. Over the years we've done many different clothing items. We've been a school uniform factory, we've had limited fashion exposure, we've provided socks, blankets, underwear and stockings. However, over time many of those divisions have been relocated and sold, leaving us specialising in school uniforms." Raphael knows what she's talking about, she's been with the company for a while, and has worked her way up through the business, seeing it from every perspective. "My very first job was with the factory in 1993," Raphael tells us. "I worked as a quality engineer, then moved to Malawi, first for the group, then left to work for a local company for four years before returning to Pep Stores and from there moved back into the manufacturing side of the business again, where I moved up through the ranks. I've now held this position for six years." Throughout its 40 years Pep Clothing has built its reputation on one foundation – consistent…
