Lack of employees leads to a drop in textiles

Production at J&R Enterprises, one of the most important companies on the local textile market, dropped by one third last year due an acute lack of workers.  The company is controlled by Joseph Seroussi, and presently includes four textile factories: Ikos Conf and Norada in Odorheiul Secuiesc, Serconf in Botosani, and TJR in Tulcea.  A fifth factory, Serca in Calarasi, was sold six months ago for an unspecified amount.

 

Some 95 percent of the company’s production is exported, with the rest sold in three of its own No. 36 stores in Bucharest , and 27 locations around the country.  The original stores sold only men’s clothing, branded Signor Seroussi, but this was expanded to include a women’s collection, Miss Seroussi, to take advantage of the much greater potential on this market.  “Women are much more faithful shoppers.  While a man buys three suits and five shirts a year, women buy twice as much,” said Seroussi.

“We were producing an annual 1.5 million suits, but this has now dropped to 1 million,” Joseph Seroussi told Business Standard.  Seroussi said that the number of employees dropped by some 1,700 to a total of 7,000, and explained that there is a lack of unskilled workers, as many are choosing to go abroad where salaries are higher.  A Romanian textile worker makes €150, 4-5 times less than a comparable salary abroad.

Seroussi said that he has not considered bringing workers from Asia or Africa, as other textile companies have done, because this would involve a major investment, some­thing he does not plan to do either in or abroad.  “If I bring people from abroad I have to offer them housing, food, and translators in order to be able to communicate with them,” said J&R Enterprises’ main shareholder. J&R Enterprise works in lohn for brands such as Bruno Saint Hillare and Pierre Cardin, for whom it is the exclusive producer, as well as Baumler, Statz, and Marzotto.  Seroussi said that the company’s products are intended mainly for upper middle class clients, mostly business people.  Competitors on the local market include Steilmann, Dinasty, and Cavaliere.

The 74-year-old Sudanese-born businessman is not planning to retire from the business yet.  Seroussi came to in 1965, and began his business in 1975 when he opened his first office.  He founded J&R Enterprises in 1990.