Informal Clothing: the case of the inner-city Johannesburg

This paper is concerned with informal clothing in the inner city of Johannesburg. This is done in the context of both the changing racial complexion of small enterprise development and of South Africa's economic heartland inner-city as an important incubator for emerging black manufacturers. This study builds on local research that has been carried out on various aspects of black businesses in the inner-city of Johannesburg. This study does not only confirm the importance of inner city as a hatchery for small manufacturers, it also investigates aspects that relate to sub-contracting and problems faced by clothing manufacturers. The results are presented from a survey of small black clothing manufacturers in the inner-city Johannesburg. Overall, the findings reiterates the importance of the inner-city as incubator.