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Shirt production costs

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gregory

gregory

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Hi people,

A friend of mine wrote a paper on African competitiveness today and he reproduced a table from a paper he read (Biggs et al) that I thought might be interesting to our group:

COST COMPARISON (US$) FOR MEN's CASUAL LONG-SLEEVED SHIRT

Zimbabwe $5.75
Kenya $5.37
Senegal $7.73
Ghana $5.34
India $8.18  (incl $3.00 quota cost)
UAE $7.13 (incl $1.50 quota cost)

Source: Biggs et al's estimates (1994). Biggs, t. et al "Africa Can Compete." World Bank Discussion Paper 242. 1994. pg. 19.
 
LabelKing

LabelKing

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One rarely sees clothing items produced in those mentioned African nations. I wonder what the shirt prodcution costs for places such as Japan, Italy, France, UK, etc. are. Perchance for high end items.
 
jcusey

jcusey

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A friend of mine and his wife went to visit her sister while she was in the Peace Corps in Guinea. He had a couple of flowerdy shirts made for him; and if I recall correctly, each was under $15. Not the greatest examples of the shirtmaker's art, but that's okay. He wouldn't have noticed if they had been, and I would imagine that fine fabrics and good sewing machines are hard to come by in Conakry.
 
Shirtmaven

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The scary part of those numbers is that I think the price might even include fabric. I remeber hearing that labor in Vietnam was about $2.00.

Of course these shirts are merrowed and badly fused. I have met some wonderful african Tailors. They are very fast. Some have great skills but it is hard to convice them to take their time and produce a finer garment.
 
gregory

gregory

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The scary part of those numbers is that I think the price might even include fabric.
Click to expand...
Yes, the costs I provided include fabrics and other material (e.g. buttons).
 
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