South African Designer chosen for French Fashion Competition

Thokozani Freedom Mbatha known as TK owns the South African menswear fashion label BLACK PEPPER will be the only South African representative at the Culturesfrance competition "Africa is in fashion!"

Thokozani who hails from KwaZulu-Natal said he is extremely honored to represent his country where he will have the opportunity to showcase both his designs and label and demonstrate the creative talent South Africa has when it comes to fashion design.

Thokozani says he is "both an artist and businessman” who realizes that fashion is as much about business skills as it is about creative talent. He says, “I came across this great opportunity by chance when a friend informed me of the competition. I looked at the entry requirements whilst pondering whether I should spend time, energy and some resources into meeting the requirements for this competition. I then decided that this would be a fantastic opportunity not only for me and my label but for South Africa, and Africa as a whole. The requirements to enter did not only consist of a storyboard. I had to meet and complete volumes of paper work such as security clearance and other tedious documentations.”

Thokozani then submitted his storyboard and the documents in April and forgot about the event. On the 6th of July while he was still rejoicing about his success in the July fashion event (he was one of the finalist at the Fashion Challenge) he was looking over the Culturesfrance website and was surprised to find his name as one of the 10 finalist chosen from Africa and the only South African designer. In due course he was officially informed by the organizers.

He will be flying to North West Africa where all the 10 entrants chosen will undergo the elimination round at a fashion show. From the 10 entrants the top three as part of this development initiative undertaken by France will receive a two month internship in Paris at one of the famous global fashion houses. The goal and objectives is for these young designers to bring back to their respective country the skills and network opportunities to develop their own range and business and to give input into the local fashion industry by dissemination of the skills they learnt.

In describing his collection Thokozani says, “As for my designs I did menswear. The theme of the competition is Transition and I interpreted this in my own approach and philosophy where the past, present and future flow and blend in one direction with each city having its own character that is ancient and modern.”

“This combination brings a new dimension and increases and broadens the horizon and prospective of each culture and one’s own interpretation of culture" said TK. "My label BLACK PEPPER …moves with confidence in its own traditional ethos and is flexible to blend with cultural changes and behaviors’ taking place throughout global cities thereby creating its own identity within an ever transforming space …” He says “My designs will transform the wearer into a universal individual who will blend into the global changes and transitions taking place not only in fashion but in culture, economics and politics ….”

Thokozani says he is designing ten items that reflect urban chic and the fabric/palette consists of natural colours which are influenced by his African culture.

BLACK PEPPER is a well known label based in KwaZulu-Natal. TK has participated in numerous fashion events. . TK says that education is extremely important and last year he took time off from his business to travel to Italy where he studied at the NUOVA ACCADEMIA DE BELLE ARTI MILANO where he undertook an intensive course in fashion marketing and merchandising that gave him an insight into international trends and developments. “I am in the fashion business to make beautiful but sellable clothing and to have a successful business I am both a creative artist and business person.”

TK is an example of someone who has a set goal and objectives and works hard. He knows that he needs to have a solid understanding of all the various aspects that contributes to a successful fashion business. It is a credit to him that in these tough economic times his label and reputation is growing both locally and now internationally. Written by Renato Palmi

FULL NAME: THOKOZANI FREEDOM MBATHA
LABEL: BLACK PEPPER
CONTACT NUMBER: 031-3320924 (OFFICE) CELL: 0799939722
EMAIL: mbathathokozani@yahoo.com

Africa is in fashion! 3rd edition of the competition for young African fashion designers. Initiated by Culturesfrance, the competition "Africa is in fashion!" enables 10 young African fashion designers, selected from applications presented to a jury of professionals, to present 10 items of prêt-à-porter or haute couture each. After the fashion show, this year on the theme of “transition”, three prize-winners will be chosen and they will receive prizes in the form of residencies in a fashion house, a prize of aid to creation and/or aid with the production of a collection, as well as support in the international distribution of their work. Once again, in association with FIMA, Culturesfrance reaffirms its support for the development of design and fashion industries.

The selection committee* appointed to choose the 10 candidates invited to compete in the special evening event “L’Afrique est à la mode !” (Africa is in fashion), which will take place in Niamey in the framework of FIMA (International Festival of African Fashion: October 25th – Novembers 1st, 2009), met on June 24th. Chosen from around sixty quality candidates from 25 African countries, 10 young fashion designers will present 10 costumes during the evening event.

The selected fashion designers are:
BARKA Salah – Tunisie
MAGNE CHOUPA Joëlle – Cameroun
CLAASEN Chakirra Mathilda – Namibie
DIOP Mariam – Sénégal
HARIRA Hamidou Seydou, dite Harira – Niger
ISILDA DA CONCEICAO GIBOTE Mbaga, dite Isis Mbaga – Mozambique
MBATHA Thokozani Freedom, dit Black Pepper – Afrique du sud
MBATSOGO Charlotte – Cameroun
RACHAEL MUTINDI Maithya, dite KI2 Fashion – Kenya
SSENKAABA Samson, dit Xenson - Ouganda

Will throwing money at the South African apparel industry really help?

While wage negotiations implemented by the clothing union Sactwu currently take place and threats of a strike within the already stressed apparel industry looming will R70 million targeted for the KwaZulu-Natal apparel sector really help?

The unions, DTI nor the IDC have saved 1400 jobs in one of South Africa’s largest and oldest textle companies Frame Group the very union that has failed its members is contemplating joining the chorus of industry strikes taking place throughout South Africa. Will such action be beneficial for their members? For retailers and apparel buyers it will be business as usual and they will simply cancel orders from local suppliers and move their orders offshore.

The announcement that the KwaZulu-Natal local government has put aside R70 million for the apparel sector sounds impressive however, the industry needs a detail assessment and to show transparency as to how this money will be utilized? Will the money stitched into this industry sector actually create sustainable jobs, provide opportunities for companies to upgrade and become more competitive? The industry does not need political rhetoric. Let the industry see this “comprehensive strategy”, let us know who will be managing it, what accountability will there be for accessing the cash injection and how will it save jobs when both the national government, the unions and the IDC that has been tasked to bailout the industry has already failed 1400 workers? Is there space for these 1400 workers to be absorbed into the industry through this initiative?

The clothing industry in KwaZulu-Natal needs to stand together and place pressure on the local government to disclose their strategy. If they do not I feel the money will be squandered and there will be little tangible developmental progress. It is dependent on the industry stakeholders to create a unified voice speak as a collective and interrogate the KwaZulu-Natal’s department of economic development. Are the people in this department responsible for rolling-out the so-called “comprehensive strategy” qualified? Do they have a comprehensive understanding of this complex sector, do they have the skills, the knowledge and the ability to undertake such a task? Such questions must be raised, excavated and interrogated by industry stakeholders who ultimately are the ones that create employment and make this sector function. By: Renato Palmi

NO HOPE FOR FRAME GROUP
THE Department of Trade and Industry has had to abandon plans to rescue the Frame Group, the textile arm of SA’s largest clothing manufacturer, Seardel , after it failed to convince an Asian foreign investor to take up a stake in the failed company[i].

Industry stakeholders were not surprised by the department’s announcement yesterday that its attempts to keep Frame running and save 1400 jobs had been defeated.
“The last gasp was trying to bring in a foreign investor, but the company did suffer huge losses and Seardel itself was sceptical that the business could be turned around,” one commentator said.

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) turned down an earlier plea for a bail-out from the firm as the business was unsustainable.

It is likely that Frame’s assets in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape will be taken offshore.
Seardel CE Stuart Queen yesterday confirmed that the group had had some interest shown in its assets from groups in Bangladesh, China and India, and had also been approached by some local manufacturers.

However, liquidity problems in the current economic environment and a particular aversion in SA to extend credit to clothing and textile operations would make it extremely difficult for a local manufacturer to buy the assets, which means they are unlikely to remain in the Southern African Development Community region.

“We have not been pressing hard on a process (to sell the assets), because we were hoping that a solution could be found. But there has been some interest. Frame’s assets are very advanced, so we think we’ll get them sold,” Queen said. The company was hoping to complete the process in the next 18 months.

Some of the assets, such as some looms, would be kept and used at Seardel’s other operations, he said.

Frame — which was composed of spinning, weaving, finishing and denim divisions — was the biggest textile operation in southern Africa and there were concerns that its closure could lead to a dearth of fabric in the region.

However, the IDC’s Willie Fourie, who heads the strategic business unit for clothing and textiles, allayed such fears yesterday. The IDC had indicated that it would help clothing manufacturers who were struggling to secure fabric, while the corporation also had talks with local textile manufacturers Da Gama and Mediterranean Textiles about the possible need to expand production capacity.

However, the IDC had seen “no rush” for the need to increase textile imports, as most firms had made alternative sourcing arrangements when Frame’s closure was originally announced, he said.

Fourie was also confident that workers affected by Frame’s closure might be accommodated elsewhere in the value chain. “With a little more focus on clothing and other downstream activities, and some buy-in from retail, we should be able to make up those jobs fairly swiftly.”
Department of Trade and Industry officials could not be reached for comment yesterday, but earlier in the day the department said its attempts to rescue Frame had failed.

Interventions by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel were prompted by an attempt to “facilitate the preservation of strategic capacity and employment in a global and domestic environment, which is placing parts of our manufacturing sector under serious threat”.

The department said that the ministers would “similarly engage actively” in similar circumstances “where there are difficult and strategic decisions at stake within our manufacturing sector”. An industry commentator said attempts should have been made to save some of Frame’s strategic assets.

RESCUE PACKAGE FOR KZN?
THE KwaZulu-Natal government has put aside R70million in a bid to rescue its clothing and textile industry[ii].

This was said by MEC for economic development and tourism Mike Mabuyakhulu in his budget presentation in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.

He said the government hoped this will save thousands of jobs in the province.
Mabuyakhulu said a comprehensive strategy for the revitalisation of the province’s clothing and textile sector has been developed.

“This strategy looks at access to markets, skills development, establishment of an integrated hub that will service stakeholders and development of a funding model to assist SMMEs to purchase raw materials and machinery.

“Government believes we can still rescue this labour-intensive sector. An amount of R30million has been budgeted for this. This would be backed by an injection of over R40million during the next two years.

“This sector has been hardest hit by trade liberalisation, which has resulted in cheap products flooding our market.

“As a result, thousands of jobs have been lost. The current global economic situation has not helped matters,” he added.

Mabuyakhulu said arts and craft, information and communication technology, agri-business as well as business processing are among the industries his department has prioritised.
He also announced that a creative industry would be boosted by the establishment of a R24million music studio at the former Documentation Centre in Durban.

He said a lack of facilities and resources to manufacture and market music products had resulted in artists trekking to Gauteng to seek opportunities.


[i] Government abandons bid to save Frame . Business Day, 21/7/09.
[ii] KZN bid to save textile sector. The Sowetan. 23.7/09

Fashion Industry begins to grow in Mozambique

The 2008 Mozambique Fashion Week reached a new level of sophistication with the participant designers showcasing extraordinary designs considering the restrictions, lack of textile supplies and design education. Under the guidance of Jan Malan who owns UMZINGELI PRODUCTIONS this magician show producer and his fabulous team created the shows at the City Hall[1] and at the beautiful Maputo station[2] which was a fest of colours and excitement.

Click here to read more on 2008 MFW.

Renato Palmi one of the invited judges at the 2008 MFW spoke to Vasco Rocha of DDB Worldwide Communications Group. http://www.ddb.com/ who is the main organizer of MFW.

Renato: Can you confirm that the first lady is keen to endorse the following MFW and development of the Mozambique fashion industry.

Vasco Rocha: At this stage everything says that she will be involved next year and eventually with bigger impact. The first lady cabinet is very proud of MFW.

Renato Palmi: Any comments from you with regard to the degree of growth over the years of MFW?

Vasco Rocha: Well Renato, as I see, in fact MFW is growing every year and that is in my opinion due to the fact that we try to push as possible the event to be made as it is in any part of the world. To make young and established designers work hard and understand what is the business, to create responsibility and to open all kind of bridges and opportunities for them to showcase as to all industry in general.

The interest of media in general, looking to MFW as a case outside South Africa also helps in first place the event itself, creating bigger opportunities for those that working hard showcasing their garments, in second place its an opportunity for the country to uplift itself and show the world the enormous potential in different areas that it has and the enormous creative potential that Mozambicans also have.

If I look back and evaluate MFW evolution I will say that, we gave huge jumps and in a way we obly people to jump with us.

If in a way people didn’t believe that was possible and meanwhile they thought that wasn’t here, now they have pride on the Event and yes they believe that we can. (Its like something heard now very frequently but we start 4 years ago).

So if we take this in consideration plus the fact that this event generate 2 new seeds in Africa ( Tanzania and Swaziland Fashion Week ), we should be proud of this long hard work, and when I say proud I am speaking in name of a big team where all are involved and add value to MFW, as you did this year spending time with us.

Also from 4 or 5 designers in 2005 to near 20 in 2008, from 3 days in 2005 to 6 days in 2008, from 7 models in 2005 to near 40 in 2008, from local in 2005 to international in 2008, yes…. with was a long walk. As everything in life, we believe in experiences, and in fact MFW is an experience to insiders and outsiders, to people that believe in what they do. They have a dream to be better every day, to cross boundaries, to show the world that they have potential, but to do that, they need to be seen by the world and that it’s the MFW role. Nevertheless MFW isn’t a fair tale; we are all writing chapters in a book and time will tell us if we are in the correct path or not, if we will write something that will tell a new story year after year and a story that create value to each one, to a country and to a continent. ends.

In July 2009 Renato Palmi, Sonwabilie Ndamasse and Dirk de Waal travelled to Mozambique to conduct a two day workshop to prepare the designers for the 2009 Mozambique Fashion Week.

[1] The Conselho Municipal or the City Hall. An impressive structure that was completed in the year of 1945, the city hall now houses the chambers of the city's mayor. In the colonial times, the building was the residence of the Portuguese governor. Although it seems like an austere structure, the City Hall is still quite distinctive because it was constructed in the classical style that was very popular in the 1940s, and it features a portico and massive pillars.

[2] The Railway Station on Praca dos Trabalhadores was designed by Gustave Eiffel (after his fall from grace in the Panama canal scandal), and bears the mark of his genius.

For more on the 2008 Mozambique Fashion Week http://www.mfw.co.mz/

Background to MFW 08
MFW was organized in detail, following all the procedures in order to provide quality to the local creations, which expresses the desire, creativity and love for fashion. Each piece of cloth, each designer involved was chosen having Mozambique in mind, romoting its values. Fashion is like that, a simple detail can make a difference.

Objectives: To expose and promote the best of Mozambican Fashion Design.How: With the local effort and creativity.
Specific Objectives: Promote the exchange between fashion professionals and companies through workshops, exhibitions and parades. Promote the development of the textile industry in Mozambique, by using local materials on the creations that will be presented at the event. Aware the local entrepreneurs for the need to invest in this area. Promote local fashion designers and create a space for newcomers, highlighting Mozambican arts and culture. It is intended that the present event becomes in a short time perspective the reference of creativity and Mozambican Fashion.

Background to Mozambique
National name Republic of Mozambique Area 799,380 sq km/308,640 sq mi Capital Maputo (and chief port) Language Portuguese (official), 16 African languages Religion animist 48%, Muslim 20%, Roman Catholic 16%, Protestant 16% Time difference GMT +2 Major holidays 1 January, 3 February, 7 April, 1 May, 25 June, 7, 25 September, 25 December.

Economy

Currency metical GDP (US$) 6.6 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 7.9 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 6.1 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 1,270 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 7.4% (2006 est) Labour force 53% of population: 83% agriculture, 8% industry, 9% services (1990) Foreign debt (US$) 4.7 billion (2004 est) Major trading partners South Africa, Belgium, Australia, Spain, China, Portugal, the Netherlands Resources coal, salt, bauxite, graphite; reserves of iron ore, gold, precious and semi-precious stones, marble, natural gas (all largely unexploited in 1996) Industries aluminium smelting (one of the world's top producers), food products, steel, engineering, textiles and clothing, beverages, tobacco, chemical products Exports alumimium, electricity, shrimps, lobsters and other crustaceans, cashew nuts, raw cotton, coal, sugar, sisal, copra. Principal market: Belgium 24.8% (2005) Imports machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, capital goods, crude petroleum and petroleum products, textiles, metal products, chemicals. Principal source: South Africa 58.7% (2005) Arable land 5.4% (2006 est) Agricultural products cassava, maize, bananas, rice, groundnuts, copra, cashew nuts, cotton, sugar cane; fishing (shrimps, prawns, and lobsters) is principal export activity; forest resources (eucalyptus, pine, and rare hardwoods)

Proudly Mozambique
Mozambique's Minister of Industry and Trade, Antonio Fernando, has said that all the companies certified with the government's "Made in Mozambique" stamp are complying with the quality requirements demanded of them. To date 131 companies have been awarded the "Made in Mozambique" stamp, as part of a campaign by Fernando's ministry to promote Mozambican produce. This campaign, under the slogan "Produce Mozambican, Consume Mozambican, Export Mozambican", was launched in 2006.

The Clothing and Textile industry in Mozambique
Two large Mozambican textile factories, paralysed for years, may reopen later in 2008, according to the National Director of Industry, Sergio Macamo. One is Texlom, in the southern industrial city of Matola, which has been silent for the past decade. The Portuguese company that managed the plant, Sogetex, abandoned it in 1997.

The factory has now been acquired by the Aga Khan Foundation, which intends to revive it, at first, as a clothing factory. Initially, it will employ a work force of 600 women. Macamo said the new owners intend gradually to expand the factory's activities so as to cover the entire production chain - from cotton fibre, to cloth, to clothing.

As for the second factory, Texmoque, in the northern city of Nampula, it has been acquired by the Tanzanian company METL (Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Ltd), which is currently installing new equipment, so that production can resume this year.

Texmoque closed in 1994. A Portuguese company, Multiplier, took a majority holding in Texmoque in 1996, but proved quite incapable, or unwilling, to invest the funds needed to make it a going concern. METL promised to invest 20 million US dollars in Texmoque. The initial plan was for the factory to resume production in 2007, with a work force of 400. Macamo did not know why the re-opening had been delayed by a year.

The two factories will not primarily supply the Mozambican market for textiles or clothing, since domestic demand is regarded as too small. Instead the idea is to sell the Texlom and Texmoque products in Europe, under the European Union's EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative, whereby goods from the least developed countries, such as Mozambique, can enter the European market tariff and quota free.

Deputy Education Minister Luis Covane announced that, under government plans to revive the textile industry, about 100,000 jobs will be created by 2012. He said that the government strategy is to ensure the vertical integration of cotton production, textiles and clothing. He promised a drive to increase cotton production, improve the business environment and the market for textile producers, and guarantee electricity supplies.

Covane envisaged new textile companies springing up in tax-free special economic zones in Beluluane (just outside Maputo), in the port of Nacala, and in Dondo, in Sofala province. All these places have good road access, are close to ports, and have guaranteed water and power supplies. The government envisages 40,000 textile jobs in the Beluluane special economic zone, 30,000 in Nacala and 30,000 in Dondo.

Mozambican textile and clothing businesses have long complained that they face unfair competition from second hand clothes dumped on the country in the name of poverty alleviation. Covane admitted that this was a real dilemma - on the one hand, Mozambicans living on or below the poverty line cannot afford new clothes. On the other, huge amounts of second hand clothing destroy the local industry.

"We will have to learn and live with this situation", said Covane. "It solves one problem but is a block on the development of the sector. Used clothes are an opportunity, but they are also a threat. We will have to find ways of making the textile industry function, so that it can compete on the international market". One hope is to export Mozambican clothing to the United States, free of duties, under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). "We will have to mobilise the private sector to take advantage of the facilities that are offered to us", said Covane. "We want the country to stop simply being a source of raw materials, and to produce manufactured goods". Mozambique was once a significant textile producer, but all its large textile factories (such as Texlom in Matola, or Textafrica in Chimoio) have been paralysed for many years.

The production of raw cotton in Mozambique reached 122,282 tonnes in the 2005/06 campaign, the highest figure for 35 years. Data from the Mozambique Cotton Institute (IAM) compares this figure to that of the previous campaign, 2004/05, which was only 78,683 tonnes.

IAM attributes this growth to the increase in the number of peasant families involved in cotton production and to improved productivity that reached 576 kilos per hectare in the last campaign.

The highest production of all time was recorded in the 1972/73 campaign, when the harvest reached 144,061 tonnes. This was under colonial rule, when Mozambique was treated as a source of cheap cotton for the Portuguese textile industry. For much of the colonial epoch peasants were forced to cultivate cotton.
IAM states that 20,931 tonnes of cotton fibre from the last campaign have already been sold, earning $25.86 million.

For the 2006/07 campaign, the authorities are predicting production of about 121,000 tonnes of raw cotton. This slight decline is explained by late rains in some cotton growing areas, and by problems encountered in marketing the cotton produced in the previous campaign. Left with unsold cotton on their hands, because the concessionary companies who were supposed to purchase it did not do so, some farmers lost their motivation.

Trade Is Key to Africa’s Economic Growth

July 23, 2009 —

Recently, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for African Affairs Florie Liser sat down with America.gov writer Charles Corey to talk about how trade is helping countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Read the article below.Trade is the key to long-term, sustainable economic growth and development in sub-Saharan Africa, says Florizelle Liser, assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa.

Because trade is vital to sub-Saharan Africa's economic future and to improving lives and livelihoods, the 8th Annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, August 4-6, is an important venue for cultivation of trade opportunities, Liser said in a July 21 interview with America.gov.

"Trade is critically important to economic development. Right now, Africa has about 2 percent of all world trade, which is hard to believe when you think about all of the tremendous resources that they have - oil, diamonds, gold ... not to mention all the agricultural products such as coffee, tea, cocoa - and to think that Africa still only has 2 percent of world trade is really incredible. But the power of trade is that if the Africans were able to increase their share of world trade from 2 to 3 percent, that 1 percentage increase would actually generate about $70 billion of additional income annually for Africa," or about three times the total development assistance Africa gets from the entire world, Liser said.

Many countries in Asia and Latin America, she said, "don't have even one smidgen of Africa's natural resources - a country like South Korea, for example - yet they are huge players in the global trading system.

This is why having AGOA as one initiative aimed at expanding the U.S. aspect of our economic relationship with the Africans" is so important.Liser said the United States needs to work with the countries of sub-Saharan Africa in many areas so they can take full advantage of both AGOA and worldwide trading opportunities and send exports to emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil.And Africans must begin trading more with each other. "Africans trade the least with each other than all the other continents.

It is improving. We are seeing a greater increase in intra-African trade, but," she emphasized, "the reason that that is important is that you are unlikely to be competitive globally if you are not competitive regionally. So until they open their borders with each other and trade with each other, you are not going to get the level of competition that will allow them to be major providers of any product globally."

For that reason, the United States strongly encourages all African countries to develop an "AGOA strategy" based on export promotion and competiveness, she said."You look at the products you have, and you determine the three or four particular products or sectors [where] you have a comparative advantage,"she explained.

"Then you look carefully at what are the challenges that face those three or four products or sectors and what would the country have to do to make them more competitive." Some countries are employing this strategy and bringing together their trade, finance, transport and energy ministers and investment promotion experts.

"You sit all of these people around the table and you have them ... determine, step by step, what they have to do to advance the competitiveness of those three or four products or sectors."Recently, Liser talked to the Tanzanians about the AGOA strategy they are developing. Tanzania produces the cotton for the Venus Williams line of tennis shirts, which also is manufactured at a plant in Tanzania.

"I challenged them. I said you only have one plant. You have all this cotton. You have cotton farmers who would benefit if you could create more of these factories," which in turn could employ many more people. "The problem is that, as is true with most of the AGOA countries, you have huge potential but you don't have the investment and the focus on how to take that and duplicate and multiply that."

The apparel industry, she added, is a "gateway to industrialization."Africa's share of the U.S. import apparel market is less than 2 percent. By comparison, she said, depending on the product, Bangladesh exports to the United States three to five times the amount of apparel that is exported to the United States by all sub-Saharan African countries combined.

"That shows you that they [the Africans] have huge potential but somehow that is not being advanced." U.S. imports under AGOA in 2008 totaled $66.3 billion, with $5.1 billion in nonoil trade, a sector that Liser says the United States wants to further expand.Another issue, she said, is the need for much more domestic and foreign investment on the continent: "Without that investment, these factories that we are talking about building simply will not be built." She added that "it is not just about foreign direct investment, but also about domestic investment and government investment in the infrastructure that supports trade."Acknowledging that there is confusion, Liser said it is important to understand what AGOA really is."AGOA is essentially a trade preference program which adds about 1,800 products to the list of about 4,600 products that are already eligible to enter the United States duty free under the Generalized System of Preferences.

The purpose of AGOA in adding those 1,800 products was to give the Africans a competitive advantage in the U.S. market for additional value-added products. ... So AGOA is important because it is one of the major ways that we have to help encourage greater value addition to Africa's production of agricultural and manufactured products."Often, she added, people think AGOA is just about textiles and apparel.

It is not. "So ... the first thing we need to understand is what it does, and that it is working. We are getting a greater number of value-added nontraditional products entering the U.S. under AGOA. But again," she acknowledged, Africa is "starting from a very small base. So even though we have seen growth, we have not gotten anywhere near the potential."

http://www.cosmoworlds.com/

New laws boots Textile and Clothing Recycling

Evidence shows that clothing and textiles is a high impact product category, exacerbated by the high volumes of clothes consumed on a global scale. Within the EU-25, clothing and textiles account for approximately 5-10 per cent of our environmental impacts (Source: European Commission (2006): Environmental Impact of Products). Without intervention and with growing consumption, these impacts are likely to increase.

New Directive Should Boost Textile and Clothing Recycling in the EU


17 Jun, 2009

Textile and clothing recycling is set to grow following recent EU legislation, according to the specialist business information company Textiles Intelligence. Recycling in the textile and clothing sector can take several forms. The best known method involves the manufacture of a textile or clothing product from recycled consumer waste—such as plastic bottles or waste polyester yarns or fabrics.

Other forms involve the reuse of waste textile and clothing products in a way which avoids throwing the items away, such as: shredding the products into fibres for sound insulation; redistributing the items in the form of second-hand clothing via charity shops or textile merchants (also known as rag collectors); and reusing fabrics for “eco-fashion”. Recycling in the textile and clothing industry offers companies important benefits, particularly from an environmental viewpoint.

However, only a handful of prominent international textile and clothing companies are heavily involved in recycling. Examples of these firms are: USA-based Jimtex Yarns, a producer of recycled eco-friendly fibres and yarns and part of USA-based Martex Fiber Southern Corporation; Japan-based Teijin Fibers; USA-based Unifi, which is the owner of the Repreve brand of yarns made from 100% recycled materials; the USA-based clothing producer American Apparel; the UK-based apparel retailer Marks and Spencer (MandS); the USA-based outdoor apparel producer Patagonia; the USA-based fleece fabric maker Polartec; the Japan-based clothing retailer Uniqlo; and the USA-based retailer Wal-Mart.

But textile and clothing recycling looks set to grow since new EU legislation came into force on December 12, 2008, in the form of a revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD). The revised directive, which aims to make it easier for EU citizens and corporations to recycle, has nominated textiles as a “priority waste stream” because the recycling of textiles is deemed to bring with it significant environmental and economic benefits.

The next step for the EU is to decide upon an EU-wide definition of the exact stage of the refuse process at which discarded textile products cease to become waste and, instead, become materials to be recycled. Companies which are interested in getting more involved in textile and clothing recycling can take comfort from the fact that textile recycling is well supported commercially by numerous industry associations—and politically by government initiatives in many of the world’s largest economies.In addition, there are plenty of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in textile recycling, such as UK-based Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development (TRAID) and the Goonj project in India.

Source: Textiles Intelligence

Links
A 2004 South African study
http://www.up.ac.za/saafecs/vol32/larney.pdf
More from the Textile Recycling Association
http://www.textile-recycling.org.uk/

An interesting Report:
Sustainable clothing roadmap briefing note December 2007:
Sustainability impacts of clothing and current interventionshttp://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/pdf/clothing-briefing-Dec07.pdf

India having to compete with China's Apparel Sector

Apparel Industry Encounters with Truth

By : Anjuli Gopalakrishna

Post quota regime-wake up call
July 4 09

[The] order in question is 50,000 pcs of a basic men's pant in cotton twill fabric. Our factory in Bangladesh quoted $7.00 per pc as their best price. Next day you hear from buyer that order placed with a vendor in China at $6.75 per pc. Our factory in Bangladesh agreed to do the same order at 6.70 after they heard the news. Response from buyer- too late! Too bad!! Order already placed in China.

Moral of the story is that in post quota regime, the winners are going to be suppliers like this one in China. They go for big orders with all their might and quote their best price in first shot. Nobody has time to waste in going back and forth on negotiations in the new regime.

The fact that China is poised to be the biggest shareholder in global apparel sourcing market is quite obvious. They have a strong fabric base, high productivity-higher than most other countries, cheap and abundant labor, highly developed infrastructure, vertical set ups and conducive government policies. And they are going for it - all out. They deserve to get the share they are going to get post MFA.

But is China the answer to all sourcing questions?? Apparently not. Take for example a cotton voile women's top with heavy embroidery and hand sequin work, and rest assured that China still can't beat the likes of India in terms of prices/ quality/ output. Its true that to beat the Chinese for basic styles and big quantities is difficult, but not impossible. Global sourcing market is big enough to accommodate China and few more performers.

Second to China, quite interestingly, India is being now deemed as the 'next best' sourcing destination. The reasoning given is something like this. Big retailers like Wal-Mart/ J C Penney or for that matter any buyer with significant sourcing needs, would not like to put all their eggs in the same basket. Diversification of sourcing options is the need of the hour. India traditionally is known to have a rich textile base, has abundant and cheap and skilled labor. Having strong fabric base within the same geographical locations can cut down on fabric transit lead times etc.

However, this reasoning needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Just to point out a few instances-prices of Indian fabrics are much higher as compared to Chinese fabrics. Even the lead times of Indian mills on fabrics are much longer than Chinese counterparts, even if you include the fabric transit time. Talk to any garment exporter who purchase fabrics from Indian mills as well as Chinese sources and they will tell you the service quality/ reliability/ delivery commitments of Chinese fabric suppliers are rated as much better than Indian counterparts. Majority of Indian fabric sector still remains under unorganized power loom sector with little or no global marketing and servicing skills.

Most of the fabric suppliers in India are still dependent for their business on garment exporters, and are not directly marketing their fabrics to the end customers- American/ European labels/ buyers. Very few mills in the composite mill sector are directly getting fabric nominations from buyers, to supply fabrics to garment makers in turn. On the other hand most of the Chinese fabric mills/ agents-NDP, Winnitex to name a few are directly getting in touch with the end customer and getting into nominated fabric sources.

How this works is that fabric supplier partners with the end customer/ buyer to maintain international required quality levels, keep to committed delivery schedules etc. and are willing to even pay penalty if these are not met for some reasons. This kind of arrangement ensures that fabric suppliers get assured business, and the buyer is in turn assured of quality product and on time delivery.

In a true FOB fabric sourcing, the garment manufacturer is responsible for sourcing fabric. Garment exporters get in touch with their fabric sources, negotiate prices, and the buyer need not know the actual negotiated fabric price b/w the garment factory and the fabric mill. This allows for some buffers to be kept with the garment exporters, so it benefits them. On the other end the buyers also benefit because, they are able to get a much better garment fob price as compared to garment fob based on nominated fabric source.

Without deviating further, lets get back to our original point-How India will emerge as competitive in the new regime based on using indigenous fabrics?? In the light of above, the only way is that fabric manufacturers in India need to rise up to the need of the hour, and gear up to international market conditions. They will end up losing a lot of business if they are unable to offer competitive prices and equally good or better fabric quality than their Chinese brethren. They will need to stick to delivery commitments in a very professional manner.

Maybe the best way would be to take the middle path-an arrangement in b/w the nominated fabric sourcing and true FOB fabric sourcing. The idea is this, fabric suppliers should aggressively market their product to international labels, speed up the development turn around times, and if any of their fabrics are selected by buyers, then they get in touch with the garment maker and supply the fabric on FOB terms I/O going for nomination from buyer. This way all parties concerned will be happy. Garment maker is able to negotiate the fabric price on their own terms, fabric suppliers is assured of business, since already fabric quality has been selected by buyer, and buyer is happy too, as he gets the required quality of fabric and garment factory taking responsibility for timely delivery.

Speed is crucial!!

In the fast paced and highly competitive international retailing scenario, most European/ American buyers are on a look out for suppliers who can do quick turn around. Buyers want to take a read on the fashion trends and quickly supply the trendy/ hot selling merchandise, ride on the crest while it lasts and make their bucks. Nobody wants to make their purchases too much in advance and then run the risk of sitting with unsold merchandise, because in b/w the fashion trends changed!!

So the critical factor for most Indian suppliers to come out winners in the new global apparel trade is to respond to this need of 'quick response' and do it quickly, before its too late, and someone else moves the cheese!! Quite often a classic incident is heard in the garment circles, which is the best illustrator of the speed factor. Here goes. A certain American bra label sent out specific elastic to be sourced to two different suppliers. One guy was based in China, and the other guy based in Sri Lanka; here is the recount of buyer's experience verbatim ' it took Sri Lankan supplier two weeks to get back to us-only to tell us that they are still sourcing. It took them another two weeks to actually send their elastic quality for approval. During which time the other supplier in China, not only submitted the elastic for approval, got an approval, took the order and even shipped out the entire bra order!!!

Sounds a bit exaggerated, but nevertheless, illustrates a very imp point. Speed is crucial.

Speed in responding to price quotes/ fabric submits/ color approval submits-the entire gamut that goes at the prototype development stage. If you talk to a regular buying office worker, you will realize that our Indian suppliers are still far away from responding quickly. On an average a supplier takes minimum 5 days to revert on costing and that too after being chased for it. They still go through three-four rounds of hard negotiations before settling at agreeable prices! Now this is funny because, garment industry is not a microchip kind of manufacturing industry. What it takes to make a men's shirt will not vary too much from season to season, and year to year. Still factories will start out be quoting the highest possible prices, as if the buyers don't keep records of what they paid for similar styles last season. Expect to be haggled to death before coming down to reasonable prices!! This kind of mentality may have worked in the past, but not any longer. No one is willing to spend too much time on negotiations and the best bidder gets the deal in one shot.

This type of thinking holds true for Bangladesh factories as well. Coming to countries like Sri Lanka/ Bangladesh etc. So what's in store for them in the post-quota world? Many experts feel that they are in for trouble, primarily because of their dependence on imports for procuring raw materials. There is minimal or no indigenous supply of trims/ fabrics in these countries. This adds to the cost plus to the lead times that these countries have to offer. While Sri Lanka can offer better lead times, as compared to Bangladesh, their costs are still higher in terms of factory overheads/ labor cost.

What is noteworthy though is that even during the quota regime these countries were very much dependent on raw materials procured from outside. They managed fine all these years, in terms of prices/ deliveries/ lead times/ quality. And post quota, their prices are even sharper, as there is no quota cost involved, compared to the Indian factories. This is especially true for basic product categories - like mens pants. So what's the threat to them?? They have built relationships with their customers over the years, and just because of quota phase out, it's unlikely that these customers will stop buying from them. Most of the buyers still continue to source from their supplier base in Bangladesh/ Sri Lanka. Well, these suppliers must be doing something right!

Many of big suppliers in these countries have set up their fabric sourcing offices in Hong Kong/ Shanghai etc; some even own the fabric mills in the Far East. They employ Chinese-speaking locals in these offices for better interaction with the local mills. Few companies have set up fabric processing units in their home country and are only just importing the greige from outside-say Pakistan or China.

Sourcing from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka is not going to vanish so quickly post quota, provided suppliers wake to the need of the hour. Adopt quick response working, quote competitive prices without going much back and forth.

Customer Service orientation-winners strategy!

Last but not the least, the biggest challenge for the supply end of the apparel industry to compete with the looming china threat would be to inculcate the 'customer service orientation'. They have to acquire professionalism in their approach, in terms of sticking to committed deadlines-be it for deliveries or any other development/ production related submits. Thumb rule is-if you commit a date, stick to it, come what may. To satisfy the end customer should be their ultimate focus and this needs to percolate right from the top management levels to the grass root levels. The mindsets need to change... business is not going to come easy any longer. Only the best will survive and will deserve to not only survive but also thrive!