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| South Africa's Fashion 'Rebels'? Fashionable or bizarre?- www.zumi.co.ke |
The fashion industry apparel value chain is a game of
“costs, capacity, speed, quality, and compliance” and in 2013, Swedish clothing
retailer H&M started sourcing from Ethiopian garment producers and set up H&M
‘made in Ethiopia’ quarters in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government saw this
as lucrative and three years later the Hawassa industrial park came to
existence offering 37 factory units dedicated solely to the textile and apparel
sector homing six local companies and 15 textile and apparel companies
including PVH, a company known for marketing diversified portfolio of brands
including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Countries like Kenya conversely made
over $400M in 2014 on ready- made garments to the U.S under the AGOA agreement
and for the last 15 years they emerged as the top exporter of ready-made
garments to the U.S, overtaking Lesotho, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Global fashion brands are shifting attention to sub- Saharan
Africa from Asia for creativity and manufacturing, estimating Africa’s fashion
industry at $75 billion by 2025 from today’s $31M value mark. With a growing younger
African population forming a large share of the rising middle class seeking access
to a wider choice in food, consumer goods, fashion and cosmetics, brands need
to run their territories seriously and pay attention to what the market place
wants. There is need to analyze the brand’s business and readiness in playing a
good game moving forward. Jain Mc Guigan and Monet Viviers directors of 8th
Ave Online, South Africa call this the need to optimize on maintaining the brand’s
presence in today’s evolving African fashion market.
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| Liz Ogumbo, with Jain Mcguigan and Monet Viviers from 8th Ave, SA |
Brands need to optimize their management readiness by collaborating with the market at a wider
sense. Working with lawyers, brand managers, publicists, accountants, banking
institutions and the likes creates a good eco-system for the fashion industry
and a network community that supports a brands structure. Business survey brands tend to make it in the Fashion industry and create a wider
space for their business and brands need to educate themselves on this. A brand’s
management process cannot take shortcuts Jain Mc Guigan said on FashionLabRadio. There
is need for astute marketing and presentation of the brand. Monet Viviers believes
that product readiness is also key.
Quality of clothing and design is important, with brands paying attention to clients
style, size perspective and demography to bring in the sense of product
readiness. Putting into consideration a clients’ demography such as climate and
seasons for instance helps a brand get into other different markets regionally. Trunk
shows are effective in market readiness they remind me of how couturier presented the season's
latest creations to European aristocrats, who would later be advised on the
most flattering ball gown. The 8th Ave duo believe trunk shows are
important in ratcheting up business excitement whilst feeding the designers ego!
They allow designers to present samples of entire collections (yes, in trunks!) to the public at retail
locations allowing for the preview of the merchandise before it’s made
available to the public. They create an opportunity to be associated with a
store and give credibility to the brand. Raising funds to participate in a trunk
and trade show might be a big fight but they are fundamental in starting any
business, with Co-operations such as SIDA providing sponsorship to
designers to participate making it not much of a stretch.
