Jamaica has earmarked the fashion industry, as part of its National Export Strategy (NES), to facilitate the improvement of the country’s less advantaged, but creative groups. However, this may not be realised if critical areas of the industry such as technical training and machinery are not addressed.

The fashion industry as defined by the NES includes fashion design, assembly and support services including jewellery and accessories. It is among the least competitive of the eight priority sectors under the NES in terms of exports but has the potential for turnaround on Jamaica’s reputation as a country with strong creative talents. It can also make available, gainful employment to many who do not fit into the traditional commercial sectors. The industry is seen as a way for the less advantaged groups — based on economic or education level — who may not have access to traditional employment opportunities to find work.

Donovan Summers, chairman of the Fashion and Apparel Cluster and one of the principals of resort and casual wear brand Heather Lane, told Sunday Finance that if the focus is placed in the right area and if the industry can produce 10 per cent of everything that everyone wears, the fashion sector can employ as many practitioners as Jamaica can accomodate.

“We have an industry that we have a vast amount of people who have low skills but are extremely creative, extremely hard working, extremely proud and willing to go to work and do good work,” he said.

He said the construction of uniforms alone, which is at the basic level of activity in terms of creativity and technical skills, can generate tremendous employment opportunities.

“If we have one million school children who require three pieces of uniforms for the year, that is three million pieces; larger than the fashion industry now,” Summers outlined.

He added that other garment needs such as that of the military and police force is among the largest market segment that the local industry needs to track. Summers said that the fashion industry as an economic agent can do more for the country than other more high tech, high skilled areas such as making cars and watches, on which other countries focus.

“There is no point in concentrating on industries that cannot use the people that we have. We have a vast amount of women who have no skills, no employment, but we are not using them,” Summers argued.

The strategy suggested by Summers is not at odds with that of the NES, which outlines the rationale for targeting the fashion industry as a driver of growth.

“In the same way that it is argued for entertainment that nurturing our creative outlets is critical, it is the same for fashion, which is a creative outlet and economic empowerment tool for many Jamaicans,” the strategy document read. “Fashion is therefore deemed to be critical to Jamaica’s development”.

However, following a fall off in exports from the sector in 2008 and crucial deficiencies in the way the industry is arranged, the outcomes of the NES may be long in coming.

Between 2003 and the start of the financial downturn in 2007, exports of apparel from Jamaica fell 87 per cent, declining from US$11.4 million ($1billion) to US$1.5 million ($133.5 million). The most drastic fall off occurred between 2006 and 2007. At that time apparel exports totalled US$4.3 million, of which exports of knitted or crocheted products accounted for US$1.4 million while others totalled US$2.9 million.

In the garment export sector, Jamaica is also on the verge of developing a competitive edge in the category of women’s blouse and shirts and babies garments and clothing accessories. Both increased in value by 14 per cent and eight per cent respectively in recent years. Babies garments increased over 50 per cent in value and over 40 per cent in its share of exports according to the International Trade statistics published by the International Trade Centre in 2008.

The aim of the NES is to make Jamaica the fashion centre of the Caribbean, but in order to realise the outcomes of the strategy goals, both the training and follow-up systems of the industry will need to be updated. The HEART/NTA is the entity that provides training for the majority of persons in technical areas such as garment construction and patternmaking to support the industry. The Edna Manley College also offers complementary courses in fashion design, jewellery design and textiles, while the University of Technology (UTech) also offers a design. But there is no clear alignment of programmes and training among these institutions, no database for professionals or firms to identify the graduates when they complete the courses and no mechanism to view skills and contract persons, all of which serves as hindrances to the development process.

“We have to identify the resources that we have, which is the starting point. We also have to understand that we have to build the technical support for the industry. The small businesses that are built on the backs of creativity will not have the ability to do this,” Summers said.

He argued that even though the work of the different institutions may be good, the fragmentation does not add the required value to the industry. “We have to pull it together, we have to put everything on the same platform,” he said.

Summers, who employs mainly graduates from HEART, said their skill level is good in the basic areas of garment construction such as sewing, but moderate to low in the technical areas which includes pattern making and cutting. While he anticipates that the graduates of UTech will have better skills in the more technical areas, being able to utilise these skills presents another challenge to the small enterprises. “Graduate level staff is going to be more difficult for a small company to have on their own, but the industry does need that expertise,” Summers said.

“The problem we have is not the creativity. The people are good, they are creative, some are amazing,” he said. “The problem we have is the technical level, the technical inputs required to go to the next level,” Summers said.

In addition to the graduates, Summers added that the requisite machinery, and the conformance to international standards are also critical inputs for the sector. He said the specialised machines that can make professionally finished button holes, decorative stitches and labels are too expensive for the small businesses which make up the industry to afford on their own, and while the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC), charged with the development of the cluster, makes some machines available for use by registered members, logistic challenges limit the impact of the effort.

“If you are a seamstress and you live in Clarendon and the machine is in Kingston, you need to make 12 button holes, that is a problem. You are not going to travel to Kingston to make 12 button holes. So there are challenges,” Summers said.

However despite the challenges, Summers said that the goal of the NES can be achieved if Jamaica moves quickly to address the issues and capitalise on its popularity.

“Jamaica is a brand name in and of itself. It represents a trading advantage that we are not taking advantage of. The industry brands have to build themselves along the line of ‘made in Jamaica’ and I think the market will accept us, but there are international criteria that we have to meet. We have to play the game by international rules,” Summers said.