PEP CLOTHING: Meticulous Planning, Continuous Improvement, Market Share Dominance

The story of PEP Clothing (PepClo) is inextricably linked with one of Southern Africa’s most famous and greatest retail success stories. Only few years after Renier van Rooyen opened the first PEP store in De Aar, the group established its own clothing manufacturing operation in 1969. Now more than half a century in, PepClo, the manufacturing arm of Pepkor and the largest clothing manufacturer under one roof in Southern Africa, has developed into a formidable business in its own right. 

From its Cape Town base, PepClo’s six factory divisions today employ some 2,000 people and deliver millions of garments and pairs of shoes each year to leading Southern African retailers including PEP and Ackermans. In the face of significant and growing challenges to local manufacturers, PepClo has remained a leading producer in the industry. “We are a low-cost, high-volume manufacturer,” opens CEO Marthie Raphael, “and specialise in the everyday essentials upon which those retailers and their customers depend.”

SCHOOL’S IN SESSION

In a country where fashion and clothing retail remain major and resilient components of the consumer economy, it is the annual back-to-school period that proves especially big business in South Africa. Each January, millions of learners return to classrooms across the country, prompting a concentrated and concerted surge in demand for uniforms and accessories as families and pupils prepare for the new academic year in style.

In South Africa, few are more heavily depended upon to be able to provide the right garments, in the right sizes, at the right price and quality, and at the right time, than PepClo. Indeed, according to Pepkor’s most recently published market-share figures, drawing on Retailers’ Liaison Committee data, its brands account for more than three out of every four schoolwear sales in South Africa.

“We manufacture 15 million garments a year,” Raphael confirms, “and 80% of that is comprised of school clothing and uniforms, in the lead-up to the return to school in January.” For PepClo, this process and its planning begin well ahead of this remarkably compressed retail season, centred on late December and early January, Raphael explains, in order to meet the annual rush in time for the first bell of the new academic year.

“We begin the manufacturing of those essential garments much earlier in the year,” she reveals. “When it the comes to deliveries, and our making sure that it is all with the retailers in time for the crunch periods, every year this quite a feat to accomplish. There is a huge focus on getting everything done in time, to the highest standards, and it is our primary focus right up until the third week in November when our back-to-school window closes.

“The cycle then begins all over again for the next year, and we recommence manufacturing in December for June and July of the next year, and so the process rolls on inexorably and on an ever-larger scale.” New styles, and new products, are constantly being considered and introduced, Raphael clarifies, but those two schoolwear peaks are by far and away PepClo’s most fundamental production pushes.

There is an added challenge, Raphael notes, and it is a welcome one which hinges on the dominance of its main customer when it comes to schoolwear provision 

“PEP stores have captured more than 50% of the market share of school uniform in South Africa, which is enormous for one retailer alone,” she says. “As a result, November means a massive rush for them, ahead of the new academic year, which they then have to coordinate successfully with the boom in footfall, traffic and sales for Christmas. This makes our task all the more critical, and in turn keeps us laser-focused on delivering to the highest standards and strictest timings.”

PEOPLE-FOCUSED PEP

Raphael, and her leadership, have attracted the highest level of recognition, beyond the plaudits of PepClo itself. Her inclusion, in 2024, among Manufacturing Indaba’s Top 50 CEOs and being named CEO Monthly’s Most Influential CEO for Western Cape fashion and apparel manufacturing, speak to the influence of a leadership philosophy rooted as much in people as in performance. “It is the people around me that have shaped who I am as a leader,” she assesses. “They have challenged and formed me along my leadership journey.”

This recognition sits alongside Raphael’s conviction that strong manufacturing performance begins with the workforce behind it. “We celebrate and look after our people,” she affirms. “Each of our employees, on average, takes care financially of up to 15 people within their households. Accordingly, the impact of what we as leaders do on the culture of the organisation, and the individuals within, as well as how that translates to what we do in the community, is hugely important to us.”

This engagement with and care for the community ranges from longstanding, impactful support for local organisations to employee-led fund-raising, educational assistance and welfare support, Raphael details. “Various initiatives run throughout the entirety of the year, to take care not only of our employees, of course, but also of the wider community which surrounds us and our operations.

“The scale of youth unemployment in South Africa – now in excess of 40% – places a huge burden on earners in the South African economy, and with 80% of our staff complement being women, it is extremely important for us to ensure that our workforce is healthy in mind and body.

“We are the custodians of the wellbeing of 2,000 people, holistically, and this is a responsibility we take extremely seriously,” Raphael underlines. 

PepClo also operates a longstanding employee-driven Care Fund, designed to help employees facing emergencies or unexpected costs without having to otherwise resort to loans. “On the outreach side, we run sewing-machinist programmes supported by trainers, mentors and partner training schools,” Raphael goes on, “and we marked Mandela Day 2026 by supporting Nebo Primary School and Oasis Day Care Centre in Ravensmead. We also have a sustained relationship with the Equilibrium Rehabilitation Centre and Shelter, with whom we have partnered for more than five years.” 

Perhaps most importantly, as an internal supplier, where the buying and selling relationship is deliberately done at a distance, PepClo strives to keep cost increases as low as possible. That discipline is particularly important when it comes to schoolwear, where affordability is critical. “We do everything we can to ensure that our price increases do not exceed inflation,” she explains. “This translates to continuous internal improvements and savings initiatives.

“How do you beat inflation? You just get better and better at what you do,” she sums up, and it is this philosophy and commitment to its price point that is apparently keeping Pepkor immune to the effects of Shein and Temu, with the Chinese giants unable to undercut it to anywhere near the same extent as the rest of the competition. 

As it now looks towards six decades in operation, PepClo and Raphael can reflect on a history of having made tangible, measurable difference in people’s lives by manufacturing high-quality garments right in the heart of their community Put simply, PepClo and the products it produces have become an integral and irreplaceable thread in South African life both locally and nationwide.

“We are people with heart, making garments with heart,” Raphael summates. “I believe we make a difference in people’s lives and contribute to the growth of our employees, and we also serve our customers, stitch by stitch and garment by garment, so that they can step out into the world with dignity and pride.”