Archive for February 2010 | Monthly archive page
Sometimes making people happy in the world of business can result in wonderful personal gains . And no, I’m not referring to an “arms-deal-type” happiness, which may be terminal (in business and in life) like in the case of Mr. Shaik (aka Shaba). No, I’m talking about good, prompt, hassle-free delivery of service and product.
I was afforded some happiness last week when I received two VIP tickets to yesterday’s Rugby Festival which was held at the new Cape Town Stadium in Green Point.It was an experience of “goosebumpular” emotions which resulted in a great victory for the Stormers over the Boland invitational team (43-17). And in the curtain-raiser the South African Legends 10s team beat the International Legends 27-5. So…. all-round victories for the locals.
The greatest victory however goes to a happy people; the famous Capetonian sea-breeze; a beautiful mountain and the organisers (some wearing Lava Ink promo t shirts) . Even with a crowd of 40 000 people, it was smooth sailing from beginning to end.
The organisers of the event SAIL Stadefrance, made sure that help was available at all times and that the assistants were easily visible, wearing Lava Ink’s VB 145 gram t shirts in bright yellow. This is an excellent cost effective promotional product which is 100% South African (and cheaper than the Chinese imports nogal). It’s not very “feshenable” but rather functional as it serves its basic purpose.
People can moan and groan about the state of the world……….and all that is, is talk. Then there are those who do. Those who do are the ones who change world. Organisations like The ManKind Project (MKP). I love their vision, which is partly described by this inset taken from the MKP website :
Men have been warriors since the beginning of time and every man has his warrior side. But social forces pressure many to repress this part of themselves. They unconsciously substitute a distorted shadow for the healthy warrior energy so essential to sustaining individual and communal balance.
The New Warrior is a man who has confronted this destructive “shadow” form and has achieved hard-won ownership of the highly focused, aggressive energy that empowers and shapes the inner masculine self. Sustained by this new energy, the New Warrior is at once tough and loving, wild and gentle, fierce and tolerant. He lives passionately and compassionately, because he has learned to live his mission with integrity, and without apology.
We were asked to print some 200 gram t shirts for MKP and initially I wanted to do a Direct To Garment (DTG) print. I was then handed this strike-off and informed that the guys got this result with a screen print - we decided to run with it because it looks amazing!
Strike-off (pre-production approval)
What’s great is that the actual t shirts even looks better than the strike off (see below). Well done guys, I must say that your skills are unmatched and you have restored my faith in CMYK screen printing.
Actual printed t shirts
The South African Clothing Industry at the moment is like a dog with its tail between its legs because of the barrage setbacks in recent years. Companies have called it quits due to the lousy economic environment and thousands of jobs have been lost. Larger companies like Frame Textiles and Team Puma have closed down and what remains are many small to medium sized businesses who chug along trying to survive. So the task of supplying World Cup products have been left up to the last of the big guns, The Seardel Group. This group of companies known as The Seardel Group, have accepted the task but they themselves do not have the capacities, technologies or experience to produce products like headwear or the Zakumi soft toy (the world cup mascot).
Now a dispute has emerged between SACTWU (Southern Africa Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union) and SAFA’s (South African Football Association) master licensee SLAM (Safa legal and management). According to Redress Consultancy, SACTWU claims that the agreed figure of 80 percent (locally produced) to 20 percent (imported) have been ignored and that actually 40 percent of world cup clothing products are imported.
How obvious is that to anyone who knows this industry? There is no chance in hell that these companies (Seardel) could produce all the stock required and they definitely not going to outsource to local companies because they need to make a profit. Providing work to the desperate small fry is last on the list because of the logistics and the headache of keeping everyone in line with quality, deadlines and consistency of products. Who else could produce R840 million’s worth of Zakumi product under one roof and ensure quality and consistency but the Chinese.
What I am saying is that once again a lack of knowledge and preparation has resulted in a toi-toi and it puts us in a bad light once again. SACTWU please stop to think before you kick up a fuss – understand that we need to supply and reach deadlines and that you haven’t exactly played a part in promoting productivity- calling for tools down when the economy is at its most vulnerable state.
