Fashion industry to receive boost from American market

The once thriving textile and garment industry which the country had will once again be given a boost with the coming into force of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). With the certification of the country’s textile and garment industry, Ghana will be joining 11 other Africa countries to export textiles and garments to the US market under the Generalised System of Preferences.

This means that textiles and apparel export from qualified countries will be accorded duty-free access into the US market. Over the years, exports have been made on a very small scale and at a very high duty. The country, in the past, had a booming textile and garment industry. But with time, the activities of this industry grounded to a halt due to many political, economic and social problems.

Fortunately for this country, it has entered into an era where the private sector is once again being given the necessary attention and priority. The focus is now on small-scale industries, manufacturers and entrepreneurs.

The certification of the country’s textiles and garment industry is, therefore, a major boost to the President’s Special Initiative to develop the capacity of these small-scale industries. Fidele Couture, Salma Garments Limited and Charisma Fashion Ltd are three fashion-designing enterprises, which over the years, have quietly worked to create a name for themselves.

Through the Trade and Investment Reform Programme executed by Amex International and sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the three have managed to improve their lot and produced acceptable products of international quality and standard.

All three have featured in respectable fashion catalogues and brochures in the United States. Fidele Couture, which is managed by Ms Stella Quaye, has been in business for the past 14 years and her products featured in Essence by mail fashion catalogue.

The company has managed to make an impression on the buyers of clothes in the US through its participation in fashion events, including International Black Buyers and Manufacturer Expo, the Africa Day and American Business Women’s Conference and the International Women’s Summit of the Global Women’s Leadership Institute.

Mrs Salma Salifu of Salma Garments is another fashion designer who has been in the industry for the past 15 years. Also with the assistance of the Trade and Investment Programme, Mrs Salifu has improved her lot to a level where she provides clothing to the US market. Her participation in other top events such as the Africa Forum of the World Bank, the International Women’s Summit of the Global Women’s Leadership Institute and the International Black Buyers and Manufacturers Exp and Conference as well as the Africa and America Business Women’s Conference has provided her with the platform for exposing her creations to the outside world and all sections of the US fashion market.

In 1997, Salma Garments won a contract to provide one of her outfits for the E-Style Catalogue of SPIEGEL Inc. Salma and Stella are working hard to produce under one label. The two have already been sub-contracting to each other. For instance, in 1996, Salma Garments was sub-contracted by Fidele Couture to produce choir robes for Calvary Baptist Church. Again in 1996, Salma received another sub-contract by Fidele Couture, which won a contract with Essence by Mail Fashions Catalogue in the United States.

In 2001, Salma Garments won another contract with Essence by Mail Catalogue to produce one of her outfits. Charisma Fashions Ltd, being run by Mrs Faustina Ansong, also specialises in Afro-centric designs and fashions. Last year, she won a contract by Essence by Mail to produce one of her outfits for the US market. She produced nearly 500 pieces of that design for the catalogue. Her design was catalogued in spring 2001 and sold so well that a re-order was made.

Voted as the best Innovator at the First Ghana International Handicrafts in 1997, Charisma Fashions has equally taken part in many international fairs and exhibitions in Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. The company has also participated in training programmes organised by Empretec and Amex.

Without exporting under the AGOA, the total annual turnover of these three fashion designers is over $1.2 million. Most of their exports are made through regular supplies to boutiques in the US and other African countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

With the coming into force of the AGOA certification, the chances are that these three will register a steep rise in their annual turnover. It is estimated that African textiles export to the US totals about $350 million a year and this has the potential to grow to $4.2 billion over the next eight years. The country should, therefore, position itself to bring other fashion designers to the standard of Fidele, Couture, Salma Garments and Charisma Fashions in order to take a greater percentage of the estimated $ 4.2 billion.