adminCLOTHING retailer Edgars Stores on Thursday unveiled a new casual wear range for men under the label Quote Urban Wear.
The range consists of casual shirts, trousers and jackets.
Speaking at the official launch of the brand, Edgars manufacturing director Mr Zeb Vella said although their products could compete with any other in the region, they could not penetrate the huge South African market because of a bilateral trade agreement between Zimbabwe and its southern neighbour.
“We have made samples for South African retailers, they are quite happy but the fabric is not produced in SADC therefore it cannot be sold in South Africa because of the agreement about double staged transformation whereby fabric from China if you need to re-export to South Africa then duty is imposed,” he said.
Zimbabwe has preferential access on clothing to most parts of the world on a single transformation basis.
This means that manufacturing of the garment must occur in Zimbabwe, but the fabric can originate from anywhere.
But there are restrictive Rules of Origin in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region which maintains a double transformation rule on clothing.
This means in order to participate in preferential access, clothing must not only be manufactured within Zimbabwe, but it must also be manufactured from fabric which was manufactured within SADC, to enjoy duty-free access to regional markets, or pricing for Zimbabwean products will remain uncompetitive.
SADC governments have been seeking to relax this rule through request for waivers.
“For textile products to qualify, they have to go through double staged transformation, that is two stages of manufacturing or processing which would materially change the characteristics of the product of which our companies cannot meet that originating criteria at the moment,” said Mr Vella.
He said SADC member states should renegotiate the tenets of the trade protocol so that the Zimbabwe textile industry can be revived.
“This agreement with South Africa, it’s a very huge market so if that South African market was open to us it would be an opportunity for us.
“So if SADC can renegotiate for the agreement to be looked into then I think it augurs well for us,” he said.
The Zimbabwe government has also accused South Africa of practising double standards in its approach to the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries which it had unilaterally suspended but still used it to facilitate textiles and edible oils exports to Zimbabwe.
In 2010 South Africa unilaterally revoked the bilateral trade agreement, impacting negatively on the local clothing sector which was exporting to South Africa on a duty-free quota.
“But if I buy fabric from the SADC region, I can export to South Africa.
So there is nowhere in SADC where I can buy fabric that’s where the problem is,” added Mr Vella.
Mr Vella said though the local textile industry is under distress, manufacturers should continue to make internationally competitive clothing.
“It will take time for the country’s textile industry to recover because of what has happened.
“I am not sure whether we can genuinely compete with the Chinese in terms of production costs, but I think what we must aim to do is to try to ensure that we produce what is different from what we see on free markets,” he added.
The Egdars Quote urbanwear 2014 collection will be retailed in its stores, Topics, Barons, Raffles, and Mick Davies among other partners. — New Ziana
Online Reporter