- Global fashion and apparel industry to grow to $5trillion in the next decade
- Africa needs to rapidly industrialize to boost its textile and apparel manufacturing capacity
The fashion industry globally is a multi – billion dollar industry said to be worth $2.4trillion while Africa’s share is $30.1billion. This was established at the recently held the Gauteng Tourism Authority held ‘Fashionomics Africa’ event to showcase Africa’s finest fashion designs at the inaugural Africa Investment Forum in Sandton, Johannesburg. Delegates and Executives at the event could not resist but ditch the board rooms, where traditional deal making takes place, to view the fashion show casing on the exotic red carpets and runways.
This was an initiative to support the creative industry that has been neglected for years.
“The fashion industry is worth $2.4trillion globally while SSA has $30billion of this share. We are a continent of youthful population that are creative. If we invest in our local talent particularly manufacturing, supporting supply chain from raw to finished products so that when we export, we export finished goods that are off value added,” Medical practitioner turned Fashion designer Dr. Patience Moloi Motsepe said in an interview with the Business Telegraph on the sidelines of the AIF.
South Africa and Nigeria are the top African fashion markets. Lesotho, Kenya, Mauritius and Swaziland are leaders in textile and clothing exports. The industry is dominated by small to medium enterprises and like many other SMEs access to markets and capital remains a challenge. This has however not stopped fashion designers from developing online platforms to create the requisite visibility to realize this untapped potential.
The fashion industry is expected to double in value to $5trillion over the next decade creating opportunities ranging from design to manufacturing to marketing. As such there is need for Africa to rapidly industrialize to boost its local manufacturing capacity if it is to meet this demand.
***Edited by Chichi Contrucci, written by Kapesa Singogo*******
