News24
12 Jun 2019, 13:10 GMT+10
A clothing scheme, which empowers women with entrepreneurship skills, suffered a major setback in Cape Town recently when a fire destroyed one of its warehouses and R15m in stock.
The Clothing Bank is now picking up the pieces and hopes South Africans will happily part with any good quality clothing they no longer need.
Since 2010, the scheme has been helping unemployed mothers around the country to set up their own trading businesses using clothing donated by South African retailers.
Chief operating officer Tracey Gilmore told News24 that what started off in a small garage in Salt River was now a two-year training programme that offered 800 women at any given time "a decent income and a living wage".
Labels are taken off the clothing, loaded onto the clothing scheme's system and priced. The women come in one day a week to shop for stock. On other days, they are in class, being coached or mentored.
To kick-start their venture, first-timers can buy stock to the value of R600 and then pay that back over five months through sales.
The goal is to "graduate" after two years with an informal small business practice qualification in hand.
The Cape Town operation grinded to a halt, however, when its warehouse and admin offices in Thornton went up in flames at the end of last month.
Gilmore said the clothing scheme's security company had phoned her at around midnight about the fire.
About 40 firefighters battled the fire from 00:30 and finally contained it at 06:20, the fire and rescue service said.
It later emerged that the fire was started unintentionally by someone who came onto the property.
"Camera footage showed a man jumping over our gate and going into our recycling hut. He used fire or a lighter as a torch and spent 40 minutes there collecting cardboard and other items," Gilmore said.
"We are deeply saddened by the fire, but we are working hard to get up and running as soon as possible to limit the impact on our traders," said Gilmore.
"People are going to continue to be left behind if we don't do something."
The operation has since moved to a warehouse down the road, at 28 Thor Circle, Thornton.
The public are welcome to drop off clothing or fabric at that address. They can also do so at selected Woolworths stores including Waterford, Paarl, Blue Route, Cavendish and Bayside.
Should someone want items to be collected, they can email [email protected] for more details
Get a daily dose of Nepal National news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Nepal National.
More InformationREDMOND, Washington: Artificial intelligence is transforming Microsoft's bottom line. The company saved over US$500 million last year...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A federal rule designed to make it easier for Americans to cancel subscriptions has been blocked by a U.S. appeals...
BASTROP, Texas: In a surprising turn at Elon Musk's X platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced she is stepping down, just months after...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak will return to Goldman Sachs in an advisory role, the Wall Street...
LONDON, U.K.: Physically backed gold exchange-traded funds recorded their most significant semi-annual inflow since the first half...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Some 32 percent of global semiconductor production could face climate change-related copper supply disruptions...
New Delhi [India], July 12 (ANI): International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah lauded Italy and the Netherlands after both...
Lahore [Pakistan], July 12 (ANI): Police in Faisalabad have arrested two suspects, Bilal Nawaz and Umar Aslam, in connection with the...
New Delhi [India], July 12 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has released its annual report for 2024, highlighting India's...
London [UK], July 12 (ANI): Shubman Gill, who has developed an appetite for breaking milestones, continued with the trend and added...
Dhaka [Bangladesh], July 11 (ANI): Bangladesh has agreed to work with Malaysia to investigate allegations of terror activity against...
New Delhi [India], July 11 (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday chargesheeted five accused in a Mizoram case related...