Dear Members,

As we have discussed on several occasions over the last few months, SADFA KZN is planning to organise a textile symposium in September this year.

Organising this event is always a mammoth task for the few volunteers involved, and the suppliers of the industry have always given great support to the event.

However, even though they are more than willing to approach their overseas counterparts for speakers and perhaps even some sponsorship, they have said that unless we know we have the buy-in of manufacturers, they can’t guarantee that their companies will support the costs involved in sending experts to SA. They don’t send them here to speak to fellow suppliers.

We are aiming the conference at dry, wet, clothing and retail professionals. It will run for 1 ½ days in one venue with a single evening function on the first day. The cost will be +-R1250 per delegate, which considering that most conferences don’t come in at less than R3000 - R5000 per person, is very affordable.

This is where we ask the question of the people within our membership who buy the raw materials and machinery, in a time when we need all the expertise we can get - will you send people?

This isn’t a rhetoric question, we’d really appreciate a return of email or a phone call, and I’ll be phoning around over the next week or so to chat to many of you to ascertain your position on this.

Kind regards,

Heidi Alcock
SADFA KZN

Cell 0827064283