Having heard “rave reviews” about the 2013 bauma Africa exhibition and trade fair, workwear retailer Dickies South Africa decided that this year’s BAUMA CONEXPO AFRICA would be the perfect platform to educate and infiltrate the market.

Dickies South Africa marketing manager Celo Buthelezi tells Engineering News that establish- ing the popular brand’s workwear range, which was launched in 2013, is the company’s main focus. “This is why we want to participate in something like BAUMA – to interact with all the companies and industries we want to service and to develop contacts with key distributors.”

The Dickies range of personal protective equipment (PPE) and specialised brand of workwear will be the centre of the retailer’s exhibition, with particular emphasis on mining and construction, and a focus on flame retardant and high visibility products.

The Dickies fire-retardant range, which can be used in a variety of industries, reduces burn injuries, provides time for escape and increases the wearer’s chance of survival. While injuries cannot always be prevented, flame-retardant clothing dramatically reduces the severity of injuries. Dickies South Africa merchandise manager Alex Bezuidenhout tells Engineering News that, while most severe burns are often caused as a result of clothes igniting, this is unlikely when using the Dickies range, as “even [the] thread is fire retardant”.

The Dickies fire-retardant range is made up of different types of fabrics, each offering different levels of protection and comfort. There are five main fabric categories with specific weights, which are suited to their various industries. The material used to make up the different types of flame garments are; Proban, Pyrovatex, Modacrylic, Protal and Aramids. The most popular garment is the Pyrovatex coverall, which offers antistatic properties, ideally suited for the fuel industry. All garments are certified to ensure that they meet and exceed current international safety standards.

A key product in the workwear range is the versatile Eisenhower Jacket, which can be used in any industry. Suitable for work or everyday wear, it is a durable, lightweight jacket that is warm, but not uncomfortably so.

Meanwhile, Dickie’s South African workwear division which has a staff complement of 20 administrative and over 200 distribution centre members, is considering expansion into safety footwear and is currently in negotiations with two local companies for the manufacture, sale, stock and distribution of safety shoes. However, Dickies first objective is to get the companies compliant with Dickies’ standards, says Bezuidenhout.

The Dickies brand complies with the stringent international testing and manufacturing standards of the International Organisation of Standardisation and the European Committee of Standardisation. Most of the company’s PPE products are imported from the US and UK, and samples of all the clothing products produced in Gauteng are sent to the US for testing and improvement.

Dickies South Africa’s main challenge currently is cheap imports, Bezuidenhout notes. “People tend to buy clothing and PPE based on price and not necessarily on safety,” he says, adding that, while Dickies products are more expensive, they “provide a lot more value for money”.

He also highlights a lack of awareness about the workwear range as another challenge. While Dickies started out as a workwear brand internationally, its primary focus in South Africa was on fashion and lifestyle clothing. “Most people party in our products, they don’t know that they can work in them too.”

Dickies South Africa mainly supplies its products to smaller independent businesses throughout sub-Saharan Africa, though Bezuidenhout reveals that there are plans in place to partner with municipal governments and public entities like bus operators, petrol stations and healthcare institutions.

Dickies was established in 1922, with Buthelezi concluding that “its heritage of hard-wearing workwear of the highest quality” is still being perpetuated by Dickies South Africa today.