Manufacturer and retailer of underwear, sleepwear and sportswear Jockey South Africa believes local clothing manufacturers can compete with cheaper Chinese imports by using their proximity to consumers to develop and deliver products faster, especially as online shopping continues to grow.The comments come as clothing retailers and manufacturers face pressure from consumers with less disposable income, while cheaper products from the Far East, including Asia, continue to intensify the competition for market share.According to Jockey South Africa GM Bruce McMurray, the clothing, textile, footwear and leather master plan has created a foundation for local manufacturers, but companies still need to prove they can compete on quality, delivery and their understanding of consumers.The master plan, launched about five years ago, is a formal agreement between the government, major retailers, factory owners and labour unions to revive local manufacturing, create jobs and reduce reliance on cheap imports.Read: WATCH | SA’s clampdown on Chinese imports puts retailers under pressureTo stay competitive, McMurray told Business Day that Jockey does not try to compete with imports purely on price. Instead, it manufactures according to demand and uses its local production base to respond quickly to consumer preferences.He said local production gives the company, which manufactures 95% of its products locally, an opportunity to test products with consumers and make changes within shorter cycles.This is particularly important as consumers increasingly shop online, where products can be tested and sales performance monitored more quickly than through traditional retail.Jockey uses its own online store to put products in front of consumers and monitor how they perform. This gives it information that can be used to change its product offering.McMurray said this creates an advantage over businesses that import products from the Far East, where production and shipping can take longer.“It’s not just that you can be part of a master plan and the doors to local retail get opened. Behind all of that, you have to have the ability to understand your consumer and then deliver goods to those retailers at the right quality, at the right time, in order to have a viable business,” he said.Jockey is part of Durban-based Ninian & Lester and operates a vertically integrated manufacturing operation, including knitting, dyeing and finishing fabric.It’s not just that you can be part of a master plan and the doors to local retail get opened. Behind all of that, you have to have the ability to understand your consumer and then deliver goods to those retailers at the right quality, at the right time, in order to have a viable business.— Bruce McMurray, Jockey South Africa GM McMurray said controlling more stages of the manufacturing process allows Jockey to respond faster when consumer preferences change, instead of relying on overseas suppliers for fabrics, colours and prints.The company has also been working with other local manufacturers to improve competitiveness.McMurray said companies that were previously protective of their manufacturing processes were increasingly sharing information through industry clusters, including the KwaZulu-Natal Clothing and Textile Cluster and Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster.He said manufacturers were also working together on technology and process improvements.One example is an application Jockey developed with a software developer to monitor machinery, maintenance and potential downtime across its factory.The company first collected the information manually before working with the developer to automate the process.McMurray said the same principle of shortening the time between receiving information and acting on it was becoming increasingly important in retail.Jockey South Africa’s e-commerce business accounts for about 10% of sales, compared with about 50% for Jockey International.McMurray said the growth of online shopping would require manufacturers to rethink how they produce and hold stock, particularly when testing new products.“The future looks like how factories need to adapt in order to compete in this e-commerce space that’s coming at us,” he said.The company sees the growth of e-commerce as its biggest opportunity, with McMurray saying the business needs to adapt its manufacturing systems as consumers increasingly move online.Business Day