Apparel manufacturing
The African apparel manufacturing sector received a major boost in 2001 when the United States included garments in the list of products eligible for duty-free access to the United States market under AGOA. This provided not only a waiver of US import duties - generally in the region of 15-30% ad valorum - but also gave African manufacturers a critical advantage over producers located in low-cost countries like China and Bangladesh which faced effective quota constraints and high tariffs on their products when shipped into the United States.
Since then, some of this advantage has been lost, not least due to the fact that quotas on Africa's competitors were removed under WTO rules.
Today, the apparel manufacturing sector has demonstrated a measure of resilience and continues to compete in the US market. Leading Sub-Saharan African exporters of apparel are Lesotho, Mauritius, Kenya, Swaziland, Madagascar and Ethiopia.
Find a link to AGOA trade data in the apparel sector at this link.
View a selection of related documents
Overview of the Cotton, Textile and Apparel Sectors in East Africa Region and Benchmarking with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
Overview of the Cotton, Textile and Apparel Sectors in East Africa Region and Benchmarking with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is a USAID Hub report that serves as a reference for businesses looking to source from East Africa. It provides easily searchable and mapped information on sector players that could be used to identify textile, apparel and apparel accessory producers who can supply products to local and regional clients and U.S....
US end-market analysis for Kenyan textiles and apparel
The apparel market in the United States (U.S.) is the largest in the world with a market value of $343 billion. In 2016, the U.S. imported apparel worth $105 billion, up from $88 billion in 2015 and $82 billion in 2014.1 U.S. consumers spent $312 billion on apparel. Ten countries account for almost 80 percent of all U.S. apparel imports with China topping the list with a 30 percent share. While Kenya does not yet stand among these countries,...
Federal Register Announcement - Apparel Quotas 2015-2016
For the one-year period, beginning on October 1, 2015, and extending through September 30, 2016, the aggregate quantity of imports eligible for preferential treatment under these provisions is 1,935,096,830 square meters equivalent. Of this amount, 967,548,415 square meters equivalent is available to apparel articles imported under the special rule for lesser- developed countries.
Federal Register Announcement - Apparel Quotas 2014-2015
For the one-year period, beginning on October 1, 2014, and extending through September 30, 2015 the aggregate quantity of imports eligible for preferential treatment under these provisions is 1,833,741,923 square meters equivalent. Of this amount, 916,870,961 square meters equivalent is available to apparel articles imported under the special rule for lesser- developed countries.
Findings into the commercial availability of denim fabric under AGOA
The Commission's determinations on denim fabric and estimates of the amount of regional African denim fabric that will be available during the 12-month period beginning October 1, 2007, for use in less developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in the production of denim apparel receiving U.S. duty free treatment.
Textiles and Apparel: Assessment of the competitiveness of certain foreign suppliers to the US (2004)
USITC report (declassified in January 2004) assessing the competitiveness of various textile and apparel supply-countries to the US market. As requested by the USTR, the report assesses the textile and apparel industries of certain foreign suppliers to the U.S. market with respect to their competitiveness and other factors pertinent to their adjustment to the final completion of the phaseout of quotas on January 1, 2005, as required by the...
2003 Assessment of the competitiveness of textiles and apparel suppliers to the US market (Executive Summary)
This is the 10-page executive summary of a report assessing the competitiveness of various textile and apparel supply-countries to the US market. A full version of this recently declassified report is also available for download elsewhere on this page.
Textiles and Clothing: Reflections on the sector’s integration into the post-quota environment (2005)
This paper tracks developments of the global textile and clothing quota regime from its early stages in the 1960s to the final integration of the sector into world trade on 1 January 2005. This is followed by a brief analysis of trends in the textile and clothing trade, focusing on key markets in general, and that of the United States in particular, while highlighting the importance of the sector for developing countries. With the Agreement on...
View related news articles
Nigeria: Garment factory to create 2,000 direct jobs, utilize AGOA
Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the weekend, said the state’s garment factory will be inaugurated this year with a take off capacity to hire 2,000 direct labour. Speaking with dozens of APC youths, progressive social media influencers, and some online news publishers on Saturday, the governor said the idea is to make Kwara a hub for garment production, which can then benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act...
26 August 2022
AAFA: Africa ‘logical’ choice for brands fleeing China
The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) urged the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as U.S. brands and retailers look to diversify sourcing. While the trade agreement’s expiration is still three years away, the Washington, D.C.-based trade group believes that establishing long-term, forward-looking policy will help brands commit to new sourcing...
29 June 2022
Kenyan textile company eyes export market through new Zanzibar facility
A Kenyan company is setting up a $51.3 million (about Sh115 billion) factory in Zanzibar as it targets to get a pie of the world’s $920 billion textile market. The global textile industry was estimated at around $920 billion in 2018, and it was projected to reach approximately $1,230 billion by 2024, available global data show. With its $51.3 million factory at Chunguni area in Zanzibar, Basra Textiles Limited is specifically targeting...
12 January 2022
Ethiopia’s economy hit as major clothing maker closes shop
Ethiopia’s once rapidly growing economy is taking another hit tied to its yearlong war, with global clothing manufacturer PVH Corp. saying it is closing its facility there because of the “speed and volatility of the escalating situation.” PVH, whose brands include Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, has been a marquee occupant of Ethiopia’s model industrial park in the city of Hawassa, where Africa’s second-most populous country has...
19 November 2021
Togo's textile focused SEZ aims to create value-added textile supply chain
Togo’s ‘PIA’, a textile focussed SEZ, aims to create an eco-system for textile value chains and offer multiple incentives to foreign investors investing in the Textile Park. A West African nation ‘Togo’ recently established the Adétikopé Industrial Platform (PIA), a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) conceptualised by ARISE IIP, to unlock the growth potential and promote the industrialisation of Togo. Located along the strategic...
05 October 2021
'Changing jeans sourcing scene has these countries coming up roses'
The sourcing landscape for denim jeans is slowly but certainly shifting, while overall U.S. blue denim apparel imports continue to decline. Imports of jeans fell 7.43 percent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2020 to a value of $460.25 million, expanding on a 5.36 percent year-over-year falloff in January, according to the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA). Coming off...
09 April 2021
Lesotho: '45,000 textile jobs at severe risk'
With only about a week left, the United States government says it is "disheartened" by Lesotho's failure to address its human trafficking concerns. This puts the country on the brink, with the real risk of losing billions of maloti in funding under the second compact and about 45 000 textiles jobs facing serious jeopardy. The US had given Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro's government a 1 February 2021 deadline to address an array of human...
29 January 2021
Ghana Apparel Training Centre launched to develop garment industry
In efforts to support Ghana’s garment manufacturing industry, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, together with its partners – Ethical Apparel Africa (EAA), Gerber, Groz Beckert, Freudenberg and Accra Technical Training College (ATTC), have officially launched the Ghana Apparel Training & Service Centre, in Accra. The launch forms part of a public-private partnership between the German Federal...
27 November 2020
Kingdom of Lesotho must seize textile manufacturing crown
The country has the right skills in place — now it just needs co-ordination and capacity. The health and economic crisis brought on by Covid-19 has had a global economic effect. From disrupted supply chains to restrictions on the free movement of people and their skills, goods and capital, the world has had to adjust to a “new normal”. A question on the lips of those contemplating filling the void left by the forced rethink of the...
25 September 2020
US sets lower annual apparel import cap under AGOA
The US has set new lower annual limits on duty and quota-free imports of apparel articles assembled from regional and third-country fabric under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in the upcoming fiscal year. The new figures are released by the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) for the 12 months from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. The annual limits are set out in the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004,...
18 September 2020
Event: Live webinar on importing textiles and apparels into the US
Allfashion sourcing launches its first webinar in a series leading up to its virtual event in November. The webinar series is supported by the USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub. Date: 24 August 2020Time: 15h00-17h00Theme: Importing Textiles and Apparels into the United States Join us for a training assembly where experts on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program share the tools to...
20 August 2020