The Kenyan Textile And Fashion Industry Report

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THE KENYAN TEXTILE AND FASHION INDUSTRY

The role of fashion designers and small tailors in the fibre to fashion value chain

@EquityBank

The Kenyan Textile And Fashion Industry Report

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Table of Contents1. Introduction

1.1. Executive Summary: Domestic Market

1.2. Executive Summary: Global Market

2. Apparel Market Demand

2.1. The Domestic Apparel Market

2.2. The Global Apparel Market

3. The Supply Side

3.1. Apparel Industry Background

3.2. Kenyas Global Competitiveness

3.3. Key Challenges

3.3.1. Domestic issues

3.3.2. Supply side challenges from a global perspective

4. Solutions and Opportunities

4.1. Domestic

4.2. Global

5. The Way Forward

5.1. Domestic

5.2. Global: Roles and responsibilities for project owners

6. Conclusion

Appendices:

A. Acknowledgements

B. Glossary and acronyms

C. Scope of works, Terms of Reference, Team Composition and Deliverables

D. Methodology

E. Sources

F. Findings of the Survey

G. Trade Statistics of Kenyan Exports & Imports for HS codes 52, 60, 61, 62, 6309

H. A Perspective and Lesson: Value Chain Integration: Mauritius v/s Kenya

I. List of Attendees to Workshops

J. Market Readiness Checker Questionnaire

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The Kenyan Textile And Fashion Industry Report

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The economic development story of the 20th cen-

tury was about the East Asian Tigers. Hong Kong,

South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and now China,

Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Bangladesh,

have seen extraordinary growth, reductions in

poverty, and improvements in living standards by

pursuing export-oriented growth strategies. The

garment industry, a labour-intensive, low-skill

manufacturing process, served as the first step

on the industrialization and growth escalator for

these countries. Today, as production costs rise

in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa offers the last frontier

in the search for new apparel sourcing markets.

With a strong apparel tradition, a large and entre-

preneurial workforce, and an attractive business

environment, Kenya is a compelling new sourcing

destination for global brands. However, Kenya also

has a deep well-spring of talent among fashion

designers and small tailors, who can serve both the

global, domestic, and regional markets. This report

is focused on how Kenyan designers and factories

can capitalize on these opportunities.

The Kenyan economy has been resilient, regis-

tering economic growth of 5.7% in 2014, which

is at par with other East African Community (EAC)

countries, marginally higher than the Sub-Saharan

region (5.1%), and much stronger than the global

economic growth of 3.3% in 2014. The Textile

and Clothing (T&C) sector, although a marginal

player in the national economy contributing

just 0.6% to GDP and accounting for only 6% of

the manufacturing sector still earns 7% of total

export earnings and holds tremendous economic

promise. The Kenya Vision 2030 identified the T&C

sector as the driver of Kenyan industrialization. The

sector currently comprises 22 large foreign owned

companies operating in the Export Processing

Zones (EPZs), 170 medium and large companies,

8 ginneries, 8 spinners, 15 weaving and knitting

companies, 9 accessories manufacturers and

over 75,000 micro and small companies, includ-

ing fashion designers and tailoring units. It spans

the Fibre to Fashion (F2F) value-chain (cotton

cultivation, ginning, spinning, weaving, knitting,

dyeing and finishing, garment and accessories

manufacturing).

Through its successful Vijana na Equity project,

Equity Bank identified the potential of local fashion

designers and tailoring units to create employment

and generate income, thus promoting economic

development in Kenya. However, this potential

remains largely untapped due to systemic and

structural weaknesses of the T&C industry, which,

despite its rich history of over 100 years, remains

fragmented, uncoordinated and misaligned. The

sector is skewed towards cottage industries and

low value-addition garment making, with an atten-

dant steady decline in the textile sector.

Equity Bank-Kenya, in collaboration with HIVOS

and the Association of Fashion Designers of

Kenya, commissioned this study to understand

the Clothing to Fashion Value chain and the

impediments to sustainably integrating local fash-

ion designers and small tailoring houses into the

domestic retail platform, as well as the opportu-

nities in regional and international markets. This

report combines two elements. The ACTIF team

conducted extensive research, analysis of the

policy and regulatory environment, investigation

Introduction

The Kenyan Textile And Fashion Industry Report

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and interactions with the main stakeholders and

clients, including policy makers, trade support

institutions, production houses, major retailers,

and fashion designers and tailors for the domestic

market. The At Stake Advisors team looked at the

global landscape, assessing how Kenyan designers

and manufacturers can attract and tap into global

apparel value chains. This report combines the two

by looking first at the demand side of clothing mar-

kets, and then the challenges and opportunities on

the supply side. Note that the report was integrated

after both organizations worked independently on

their respective areas of research, so this should

not be considered a joint report. Overall, it offers a

development strategy and action plan to develop

and strengthen an inclusive and sustainable Fibre

to Fashion (F2F) value chain, in which local fashion

designers and small tailors can play a meaningful

role on the domestic and global manufacturing

and retail scene.

1.1. Executive Summary: Domestic Market

To unlock the full potential of the T&C sector with

regards to creating jobs, generating incomes,

strengthening trade, accelerating technology

adoption, attracting investment, and promoting

local entrepreneurship, most importantly women

and youth entrepreneurs, there is an urgent need

to recalibrate the growth strategy from low-value

addition to high value-addition, enhancing Kenyas

product offering from Cut, Make and Trim (CMT) to

Full Package Service Providers (FPSP) and Original

Design Manufacturing (ODM). This inevitably calls

for the integration of local design values and capa-

bilities in the National Value-Chain (NVC) equation.

Hence, the initiative of Equity Bank Kenya together

with its partners, namely HIVOS and the Association

of Fashion Designers AFAD (K), to develop the local

Textile and Fashion (T&F) industry by strengthening

capacity of designers and small tailoring units to

integrate the structured domestic retail market, in

the first phase and to expand their businesses into

the regional and continental markets thereafter.

However, the dearth of reliable information and

intelligence on the industry and the absence of a

comprehensive database of local designers and

their capabilities seriously inhibits the design and

development of a strategy and appropriate action

for the target constituencies.

@HivosEastAfrica

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The key challenges are:

(i) Lack of policy coherence and institutional

alignment,

(ii) Low level of value addition and a disconnect

between the apparel sector and the rest of the

value chain segments,

(iii) Supply side constraints with regards to qual-

ity and price of fabrics, with focus on afro-centric

cloth and garments,

(iv) Weak business environment,

(v) High cost of production and built-in systemic

inefficiencies,

(vi) Lack of market readiness,

(vii) High cost and difficulties to access credit and

finance,

(viii) Predominance of SMEs operating in the infor-

mal sector,

(ix) Lack of visibility of the Kenyas design capabili-

ties and absence on the formal retail platform,

(x) Illicit imports and negative impact of second

hand clothing, and

(xi) Lack of a clear national policy on textile and

apparel.

Overview of findings

The situational analysis of the Kenyan Textile and

Clothing industry has revealed the challenges

facing local fashion designers and small tailoring

houses to develop and integrate the Clothing to

Fashion Value chain (CFVC). The study has identi-

fied the following issues:

Kenya has a dynamic textile and clothing sector,

fairly well integrated with cotton cultivation, gin-

ning and spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing and

finishing facilities;

The machinery and equipment are old

and inefficient;

The quality of yarn and fabrics produced

in Kenya is poor for the world market;

The textiles sub-sector primarily caters

for traditional and African wear (Katenge,