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dictated by the buyers. This behaviour constitutes competition for local designers, who
then have to compete with large corporations for the same consumer base. Furthermore,
designers seeking entry into the wider market-place through collaboration with the retail
chains are not in a position to exert any discernable pressure on the retail buyers; on the
contrary, they need to meet the criteria dictated by the retailers.
Private boutiques demand high standards of quality and delivery, as well as reasonable
prices from designers who need these boutiques as points of sale and niche visibility for
their designs.
It is in the informal economy that designers can dictate their own terms by insisting that
informal operators producing beading and other creative embellishments which add
value to their product, meet their specifications for price, quality and service, as well as
design intensity.
8.5 Suppliers
All of the designers interviewed noted that consistency in quality is crucial. Karen noted:
“You are only as good as your last garment” (Interview, (6/7/06). All respondents said that,
ideally, it was better to run production in-house so as to retain control over production
schedules, delivery and quality. Outsourcing was seen as problematic because of having
to relinquish this control: “If I hand the design to someone and never see it until it is
delivered to me, and there is a problem, what do I do?” said Rozanne (Interview,
18/6/06a).
The linkage between CMTs and textile suppliers is a constraint for the designer. CMTs and
textile suppliers are placed under pressure (Velia, 2004; Kaplinsky and Morris, 2001) to meet
price and production demands dictated by the retail buyers. In turn, through their
inflexibility, CMTs and textile suppliers - as is reflected through the interviews with the
designers - place certain constraints on designers relating to production processes (in the
case of CMTs), and the variety and quality of fabrics (in the case of textile suppliers). In
addition, designers are often frustrated by poor quality outputs and late delivery of orders.
This is collaborated by Velia’s research on CMTs (Velia, 2004:14), and Kadwa’s (2004:177)
research relating to the paucity of textile designs.
The designers interviewed in this study indicated that it is extremely difficult to coerce price
reductions on textiles for their products. All respondents described difficulties in acquiring
high-quality, unique textiles at good prices. Iqbal highlighted the limited range of locally
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