Flags warm more than hearts

From local is lekker to hyper-localisation: Township consumer trends to watch this festive season

Mongezi Mtati

With 64 Southern Sun hotels in South Africa having hoisted the flags of the 2010 FIFA World Cup participants, the question was what to do with these pieces of fabric? Rather than discarding them, the hotel group has sourced warm, cost effective blanketing material and appointed previously disadvantaged unemployed individuals with access to industrial sewing machines, to sew the flags onto the blankets, thereby producing eiderdowns.

The project has been launched internally, but ultimately it aims to inspire other South African organisations to do the same. "We encourage businesses to participate in this venture and would be happy for them to utilise the resources and infrastructure we have in place," says Priya Naidoo, GM of Communications at Southern Sun.

"With winter upon us, this initiative provides the perfect opportunity to extend the sense of delight we are all revelling in post World Cup. If we harness our sense of creativity as a nation, there are a myriad of means to augment the positive effects of this recent event."

"This project will generate employment, uplift communities and by reusing the flags, it will reduce environmental waste too. Most importantly, it will physically extend the wonderful sense of warmth associated with the World Cup," she concludes.

Southern Sun Hotels will have approximately 2000 blankets to distribute in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.