Cape Town: Clothing and textile manufacturing sector is gaining momentum as 40 local businesses complete the Cape Acceler8 programme with a graduation this past Wednesday, 26 August 2026. This capacity-building initiative focusses on helping participants to improve their businesses’ competitiveness, secure new orders and support job creation.
This year, 40 businesses in Cape Acceler8 programme collectively represented over 600 employees, with 70% based in the Cape Flats. Participating businesses have already secured R1.35 million in new and repeat orders.
The 12-month programme is delivered by the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster and funded by the City of Cape Town. This brought manufacturers together with practical expertise and market insight to strengthen their operations and ability to attract new business.
Growing Local Economy
The clothing and textile industry is a major employer in the manufacturing sector. It contributed R17.6 billion to the local economy in the Western Cape and had a trade balance of R3.4 billion in 2025.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth – Alderman James Vos stated that clothing and textile production is one of the priority sectors for job creation and growing the local economy, with Cape Town as already their home to a substantial manufacturing base.
Vos said that the City of Cape Town has built a wider economic development model where they are working alongside industry specialists who understand their sectors inside out. Through the Special Purpose Vehicle programme, they are bringing that expertise together with the City’s resources and focus on sectors, including clothing and textiles, where they know there is real potential for growth, investment and jobs.
They can’t create every job themselves. What they can do is work with industry, businesses and the private sector to remove some of the barriers to growth and help businesses become more competitive.
According to James Vos, such estimation indicates that around 140 million garments supplied through retailer supply chains are made here in Cape Town. Over a quarter of the 402 million garments reported by the R-CTFL Masterplan’s Aggregator Process as sourced locally. That gives them a sense of the scale of what is already happening here and the opportunity that they have to grow it even further. These commercial results provide a more meaningful measure of impact than simply counting how many businesses received support.
Benefits To Businesses
Creative Director and founder of Gcogco Clothing Studio – Nomgcobo Tukulula said that the programme has strengthened her strategic thinking and improved the way she approaches growth.
Tukulula got equipped with practical tools to refine the business processes, enhance the customer experience, and make more informed decisions. The programme has also broadened her network, exposed her to valuable mentorship, and given her greater confidence to scale the business sustainably while creating more opportunities for local employment.
Owner of Glendzodesigns – Glenda Mbeyiya said that Acceler8 helped her gain insights into better adhering to procedure. She said that she has gained a lot of knowledge on steps to follow when manufacturing her product. Every action is important before her product goes out to the customer.
She has also become more conscious when it comes to waste management. And she understands the importance of planning her day because it helps her to be more productive.
Considering this, Alderman James Vos visited factories as part of the City’s hands-on approach to know the sector better in helping businesses through programmes such as Cape Acceler8.
He said that he really enjoys visiting the factories, walking around the production floor, talking to the owners and employees, and seeing what businesses are producing. They get a completely different understanding of the opportunities and challenges when they are there and seeing it for themselves.
Cape Acceler8 is a good example of what it looks like when they get those partnerships right, bringing the City’s support together with people who understand the industry and the market. As the programme now gets complete, the focus turns on converting the skills and capabilities developed by the participating businesses into further orders, business growth and employment opportunities across Cape Town.