Graduation attire branded Birch is Birch Robes, a Makhanda manufacturer that supplies academic gowns, hoods and mortarboards to many South African universities. The important thing about contacting them: they publish a separate contact for each university, not one general graduation line.
Official contact channels
- Factory, Makhanda: 046 622 7010, [email protected], Church Square, PO Box 66, Grahamstown, 6140
- Head office, Gqeberha: 041 363 1360, 97 Second Avenue, Newton Park, 6045
- Gqeberha city office: 041 585 8594, 69 Govan Mbeki Avenue
- Graduation enquiries email for the Gqeberha offices: [email protected]
- A general enquiry form is published on the Birch website
Note that the number in the website header is printed as +27 046 622 7010, which keeps both the international code and the leading zero and will not dial in that form. Use 046 622 7010 locally, or +27 46 622 7010 from abroad.
What this organisation provides
- Graduation robes, faculty hoods and mortarboards, for hire or purchase
- Academic attire supplied under agreement with individual universities
- Legal robes for advocates and the bench
- Clerical robes and municipal or ceremonial robes
- Medical scrubs and corporate orders
- On-site teams that manage attire distribution at graduation ceremonies
Hire and purchase are priced and scheduled differently. Hired attire has a return deadline attached to the ceremony date, and a late return usually attracts a charge, so confirm which you have ordered before the day.
Address and operating information
- Contact the desk for your university rather than a general line
- Rhodes, Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu, UNIZulu, CUT and CPUT graduates: 046 622 7010, with mailboxes rhodes@, forthare@, wsu@, unizulu@, cut@ and cput@ at birchs.co.za
- Nelson Mandela University graduates: 041 585 8594, [email protected]
- UKZN graduates: 041 585 8594
- The manufacturing factory is in Makhanda; the head office is in Gqeberha
- Fax numbers are published beside several of the phone numbers and will not connect as voice calls
Order deadlines are set by the university rather than by Birch, and they close well before the ceremony. If you have missed the campus ordering window, phone the desk for your institution rather than assuming nothing can be done, because collection arrangements sometimes differ from ordering ones.
Support and escalation routes
- Order, sizing and collection queries: the university-specific contact above
- Factory and manufacturing matters: [email protected]
- Your university graduation office sets the deadlines and the ceremony arrangements, and is the right contact for those
- A consumer complaint about goods or service goes to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud on 0860 000 272
- Online orders carry a seven-day cooling-off right under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, separate from any hire agreement
Keep the hire agreement and the receipt until the deposit is refunded. Deposits on hired attire are the most common source of dispute, and they are far easier to reclaim with the paperwork than with a recollection of what was agreed at a busy collection desk.
Sources
- Birch Robes contact page listing offices and per-university graduation contacts, birchs.co.za, read 4 September 2026