Hilton Weiner (which is part of the Platinum Group that also owns Jenni Button, Aca Joe, Vertigo and Urban) seems like a fairly representative South African clothes retailer: their clothes are made in Lesotho, Mauritius, China – and some are made in South Africa, too. Unless the shop assistants are aware which is the ‘homemade’ stock, you’ll have to turn a quite a few garments inside out before you come across a ‘Made in South Africa’ label.

Women’s wear

The notable exception for women’s wear is Foschini (particularly the Foschini store, not the Foschini Group in general). They have a wide choice of locally manufactured, fashionable tops, knitwear, jackets, suits and pants across their instore labels News, Oasis, Collection and WWW. I didn’t find any locally manufactured jeans, though.

Another label to laud for manufacturing locally and for well-informed shop staff is Sissy Boy (Ronald Sassoon) which retails from their own stores as well as from Foschini and Edgars. Their standard denim clothes are imported, but their light denim jeans, like 8th Wonder are made locally. So are many of their tops and dresses.

At Truworths, only the actual Truworths instore label seems to have a reasonable choice of locally manufactured clothes. Across the board of the other ranges, there is some local, but you have to search for it. The same goes for Truworths LTD and Daniel Hechter. Outside the Truworths label, your chances are generally better with tops, and not good with jackets and pants. However, Truworths does sell some women’s jeans that are locally made. It depends on the cut and wash, so check the label.

At Edgars look out for Charter Club which is mainly locally manufactured, as are Thula Sindi and Bad Girl. Free2bu has some local viscose/spandex items, but with the other clothes and across the other labels, you’ll mainly find imports.

Pick ‘n Pay’s inhouse brand is called Real Clothing Company. Most of their stock is produced in Asia, but you can find really nice cotton tops (T-shirts and strappy ones) that are made in South Africa. I have also stocked up on their handy fleece jerseys with collar zips. Always double-check their labels, there seems to be no rule that just because you bought a certain type of garment made in RSA before, that the next colour range or slightly different cut is also ‘homemade’.

The same goes for Woolworths. Your best chances of find something local are cotton tops. But don’t expect too much. Despite their sourcing policy (see below), most of their clothes these days seem to be imported.

Men’s wear

For shirts, pants (including jeans), T-shirts and business suits a good place to browse is Truworths Man. They have plenty of imports as well, but it is easy to find locally made, fine-looking alternatives. Some of their Hemisphere jeans are local, though not all.

Markham, although also part of the Foschini Group, has only the occasional business suit and shirt which is made locally (look out for the Cignal range), but their T-shirts, pants, jackets and knitware are all imported. Weirdly enough, they have locally made Levi’s Jeans. Not the entire range, it depends on the cut and wash, but I found a good number of 501s and 507s that are produced in Epping, Cape Town

I chatted to one of the Markham buyers and he seemed to think that there is less variation globally in men’s fashion and fit than in women’s wear. Accordingly it is so much easier to manufacture in one place and export to the rest of the world. He also thought that local manufacturers wouldn’t do the latest look for retail, like the slim fitting shirts which are fashionable at the moment.

He is wrong on the last point. Local manufacturers will make what sells, especially the latest look: the D66 shirts for sale at Edgars are locally made and have the slim fit and great fabrics. They also sell locally made pants.

Also at Edgars you can choose from locally made business suits by Charter Club. Local T-shirts are available from Bad Boy, and also some from Quicksilver and Billabong, but you have to double-check.

Bad Boy sells locally made guy’s underwear. So does Jockey, which also fits the male feet with socks made in RSA. Edgars sells a nice range of local leather belts.

For more socks, check out Falke, an international brand, which like Jockey, produces locally.