Clothing and Footwear in African IndustrialisationDorothy McCormick, Christian Myles Rogerson There is a broad consensus amongst development specialist that in order to grow and develop, African countries need to industrialise; and at a greater rate than they are doing at present. In searching for the reasons for the disappointing industrial progress so far, observers have tended to take a broad look at the industrial sector as a whole. The work reported in this volume takes a different approach. It sets out from the premise that two industries - clothing and footwear - offer excellent starter opportunities for baseline industrial growth. Garments and footwear are low-tech industries in so far that use stable, well-diffused technology. They generate only low-level research and development needs, require only basic skills, and operate on low economies of scale, whilst having the capacity to absorb large numbers of semi-skilled workers and make extensive use of local resources. Additionally they offer considerable export potential. This collection of papers focuses on the changing role and potential of the clothing and footwear sectors in industrialisation in Africa. The examples elucidated are the clothing and footwear sectors in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. Taken together, these four countries provide a representative cross sector of African countries and present a range of different issues relating to the continent's clothing and footwear economy. More generally, the volume seeks to contribute to a greater appreciation of the impacts of globalisation on industrial development trajectories. |
Contents
International Perspectives | 17 |
The African Growth and Opportunity Act and | 78 |
National Perspectives | 110 |
Copyright | |
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Addis Ababa African countries AGOA apparel areas B2B e-commerce Birr buyers capacity Cape Town clothing and footwear clothing industry clothing manufacturers clothing sector clusters COFESA competitive costs cotton Cotton Board customers Dar es Salaam Derg developing countries domestic market Durban e-commerce economic employees employment entrepreneurs Ethiopian leather export fabric factories firms footwear footwear industry footwear sector garment industry global growth hides and skins important increased industrialisation inputs institutions investment Johannesburg Kenya KwaZulu-Natal labour lack leather industry leather products Lesotho liberalisation linkages Malawi Mauritius McCormick ment Nairobi networks operating organisation raw materials region retailers role SADC sample second-hand shoes small-scale SMEs Source South African clothing strategies sub-Saharan suppliers Table tailors tanneries Tanzania tariffs textile textile and clothing textile sector tion trade Uganda upgrading urban value chain Western Cape women workers workshops yarn Zimbabwe