There are not many tie suppliers around, this is not surprising given the fact that it is not the most sought-after item.

To add to that, there are also very few good tie suppliers around. Those good ones have been around for quite some time, by this I mean years and years, not months and months.

The difference between good tie suppliers and bad tie suppliers is as follows:

The understanding of how to make a proper tie, whether it's fashion, corporate or school related.

The ability to deliver on time( although load-shedding has become a huge aspect of the current scenario and is here to stay so I guess its how one manages the load-shedding issues)

Loadshedding issues and how they are managed- some tie suppliers approach this head-on with the intention of making sure that everything still gets delivered within a reasonable time however, some have gone completely the other way, struggling with the pressure of the changes to our working environment from a tie suppliers perspective.

However, this is not unusual, it is fairly common amongst all small clothing factories and manufacturers at the moment while they try to adjust to the new working conditions from a lack of power perspective.

Jobs need to go out and ultimately if we want to remain in business as tie suppliers or any form of a supplier who is dependent on electricity, and I don’t know one who isn’t actually, then the sooner we get our heads around this predicament the better.

Tie suppliers and tie manufacturers in general don’t really have the funds to equip themselves or their factories to counter the lack of power and for that very reason, they need to learn to work around the hours available to manufacture in the case where significant electricity is required.

It sounds easy for tie suppliers to do this but really it isn’t, the restrictions are extremely limiting and at the end of the day, nobody really knows exactly what to do because there is also the labour issue to consider.

Staff come to work at eight in the morning and knock off at the tie supplier's place of work at 4.30 pm and in between that, they endeavour to get as much done as possible and although the discussion has revolved around changing working hours to accommodate the load-shedding times, is this really practical for employees who have families and children.

And so we are stuck with a situation where production by the tie suppliers has dropped, as has it with every other clothing-related manufacturer and probably every other anything supplier who is reliant on electricity as I outlined before.

So back to the value of the good one, by this, I mean the good tie suppliers.

Well- we will all have to position ourselves for survival- I suppose, that’s what it really is, survival of the fittest amongst tie suppliers, to see who can adapt and will run with the wind and who cannot adapt and will fall by the wayside, never to be heard of again probably, but what we do know is that this situation is here to stay for a long, long, long time and so those of us tie suppliers who want to remain in business and play our part in the creation of neckwear in South Africa, will need to adjust.

Good tie suppliers, I think, are those who will prevail in the face of desperate situations and will thrive when things are really good. Good tie suppliers will look to be innovative, they will look for ways of improving their offering under the circumstances so that they may be able to keep their customers happy and keep them using the tie suppliers they normally use.