Fabric Production within South Africa and the African Continent

Need research to be performed on the clothing and textiles industry in South Africa and in Africa as a whole. Specific focus on FABRIC manufacturing within the clothing and textile industry. Fabric Production Information on: 1.) General overview of clothing & textile industry in South Africa 2.) Employment Numbers 3.) Types of fabric commonly produced or sourced abroad for use in South Africa and Rest of Africa for ordinary as well as traditional clothing 4.) Types of machines used to produce fabrics 5.) Where machines are sourced e.g China, India 6.) Cost of Fabric Producing Machines The aim of the research is to establish an investment case for the setup of collaborative fabric producing co-operatives in South Africa in conjunction with the large Fabric exporters such as China and India. The setup of collaborative production hubs in South Africa will allow Chinese and Indian exporters to not solely be seen as "Dumping" their products on South Africa at cheap prices thus increasing local unemployment in the clothing & textiles industry. These South African hubs can then be utilized to produce fabrics that can then be exported into the rest of Africa. All of the above will be done in partnership with the large exporters from China and India. The competitive advantages of China and India in fabric production need to be identified so they can be replicated in a collaborative model locally here in South Africa.