The conversion of raw material into woven or knitted fabrics, homeware, shoes, jewellery or devices and more, relies on manufacturing facilities, mills, dye houses and tanneries. The conversion process includes design, modelling and patterning, cutting, stitching, sewing, assembling, finishes and packaging. First tier suppliers manage processing and production where facilities are not owned by the Group and might make use of secondary and tertiary sub-contractors. TFG Africa is increasing local manufacturing and design to 76% of the Group’s apparel purchases in the next five years. We continue acquiring manufacturing assets and preserving jobs across South Africa, with Prestige Clothing Proprietary Limited now being the largest apparel manufacturer in South Africa.
The conversion of raw material into woven or knitted fabrics, homeware, shoes, jewellery or devices and more, relies on manufacturing facilities, mills, dye houses and tanneries. The conversion process includes design, modelling and patterning, cutting, stitching, sewing, assembling, finishes and packaging. First tier suppliers manage processing and production where facilities are not owned by the Group and might make use of secondary and tertiary sub-contractors. TFG Africa is increasing local manufacturing and design to 76% of the Group’s apparel purchases in the next five years. We continue acquiring manufacturing assets and preserving jobs across South Africa, with Prestige Clothing Proprietary Limited now being the largest apparel manufacturer in South Africa.
We use a mixed model of own and outsourced transport between distribution centres, warehouses and outlets. We also use vendors with the latest vehicle and route optimisation technology to reduce emissions. Our distribution capabilities include freight handling, order fulfilment and returns processing. We adopt new technology where the investment will ensure optimisation, for example in RFID tagging that provides live inventory information. This ensures efficient ordering and stock keeping, and minimises distance travelled per item. We are able to fulfil increasing volumes of online orders from distribution centres as well as directly from outlets. During the year, the Group began a multi-year warehouse consolidation and rationalisation programme, and commenced the development of a multi-purpose distribution centre facility in Johannesburg that will further improve supply chain efficiency.
We continue to invest in digital transformation and omnichannel infrastructure for our brands. Our customer-facing employees are supported through a number of digital channels. In outlets, we measure our environmental impact in terms of energy and water use, and waste, where possible. We aim for low impact and responsible materials for refits and new outlets. During the year, we began a structured engagement with our landlords about existing availability of energy from renewable sources and planned investments in renewable energy production that could benefit the Group. In outlets, we measure our environmental impact in terms of energy consumption on a per square metre basis. Across some of our store footprint, the Group utilises energy meters to accurately track consumption and behaviours linked to abnormal energy usage. Our unique portfolio of brands is increasingly adopting sustainability features and attributes, as illustrated by the new recycled wash care labels that are being adopted across all TFG Africa in-house fashion brands. In terms of packaging, we aim to have recycled or fully recyclable packaging in all outlets across the Group. During the year, TFG’s Africa brands worked together to transition to a 100% post-consumer recyclate which is being introduced across all bags in South Africa. This will ensure no further virgin plastic material is used in these bags.
We work with partners to reduce the volume of fashion and lifestyle product waste sent to landfills. We currently extend the life of the garments by donating good quality unsold clothing and customer returns. In South Africa, significant donations of such clothing were made in relief of the KZN flooding in partnership with Gift of the Givers. In TFG Australia, unsold clothing is donated through partnerships with Red Cross and Thread Together, which provides relief in areas of need such as Lismore which had devastating floods in February 2022. This is not the full circularity story yet. We are exploring a process of using our textile waste as inputs into new items. In addition, where appropriate, our brands promote care and repair to customers. Some of our brands have tailoring and repair services which we support and subsidise to promote repair over garments being discarded. Across our brands we have piloted re-sale as well as product return incentive programmes. In South Africa, we have also partnered with an enterprise that shreds, compacts and transforms our manufacturing fabric waste into useable outputs while TFG Australia partners with Upparel for similar services.
We are procuring increasing volumes of sustainably sourced materials as our production inputs, which consist of cotton, linen, wool, wood, polyester, leather, precious stones, silicon, aluminium, plastic, polymers and more. Each territory has now joined Better Cotton and set time-bound targets for sustainably sourced cotton. Both TFG Africa and TFG London source FSC® certified selected products where possible and TFG Africa is working towards all jewellery suppliers being members of the Responsible Jewellery Council. Further analysis and preparation is being made for targets to be set for other major commodities and input materials. Data analytics are also increasingly integrated into our procurement and production processes to optimise our resource use. In South Africa, we work with government to encourage local procurement and reduce import duties.
