Everywhere we have been in West Africa we have admired the abundance of eye catching cloth. Men, women and children wear colourful prints and vibrant designs in both modern and traditional styles. We both thought these were fashions that would be welcomed in England and therefore the beginning of a successful business!
As a producer of raw cotton Benin was our first official research post. We were disappointed however to find out that most of the cotton produced is shipped out to be manufactured and printed in China. In fact most of the cloth we had been admiring was produced in either Europe or China. We were told that Ghana was one of the few places left in the region that still prints its own fabric. Investigating further we found out that cheap Chinese copies have had a disastrous effect on the Ghanaian textile industry which has been in serious decline since the 70s. This has left only two companies surviving in Ghana.
As it turned out finding an all African cloth (produced, manufactured, printed) was almost impossible and considering its prolific popularity a great surprise. Nevertheless we set up meetings with both companies, donned our smart ware (just ignore the flip-flops!) and headed into the world of business.
Printext was our first scheduled meeting however as it imports all of its cotton from China and India and does not produce prints we were interested in it was clear that our plans could go no further with them. GTP was our last hope and the company we were particularly keen to work with due to their interesting designs. The company is owned by an international conglomerate Actis, however some designs are still printed and manufactured in Ghana and they use Beninoise cotton.
Excited about these prospects we had a four hour meeting where it looked like everything was coming together. We had talked costs, shipping, and even got a chance to visit the design lab (very few allowed due to copy infringement) and choose from hundreds of ‘Nu Style’ designs. Amidst thousands of colourful prints we were in cloth heaven and with facts and figures in hand were on the way to submitting our business proposal to Natwest!
After hours of research, meetings and debating colour schemes we had one final hurdle, quality control. This proved to be the last frontier for our aspirations as we were bluntly told the thread count we wanted was not possible. Our bedding business had gone bust! Although not viable for us, chasing the cloth business dream was an exciting way to spend a week in Accra and opened our eyes to the sorry state of the textile industry here.
Vlisco, a subsection of Actis are trying to retain some local production however as cheaper Chinese imitations are flooding the market they may be fighting a losing battle. It is a real shame that such a traditionally iconic symbol of West Africa, its bright wax prints, are actually owned, produced and profited from elsewhere. Unfortunately like so many industries the world over cheap production has the upper hand.
