Clothing Sold In Africa Made in China... India... Somewhere
A few weeks ago, we brought to you a story of counterfeit antimalarials from China being labeled as "Made in India," then sold in Nigeria. Turns out it's not just drugs.
Fine, clothing with the wrong country of origin isn't going to kill anybody, but is still problematic. The stream of fake Indian imports affects the market for real Indian imports. The India Times has the story:
Reacting to the development, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry said: "It is a cause for concern and we have to gauge its impact. China is the largest exporter of textiles, with 25 percent of market share. We have just 4 percent of market share. So they are a threat in the medium term."
According to the Export Promotion Council for Handicraft (EPCH), export of textiles and ready-made garments - cotton, natural silk, woollen and man-made yarn - to Nigeria virtually halved from Rs.224.7 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.119.2 crore in 2007-08 because of the fake Chinese products.
Crore is a unit in the Indian numbering system; it has different meanings around the world but stands for ten million in India. Therefore, exports to Nigeria fell from Rs. 2.24 billion to Rs. 1.19 billion, or from $46.9 million to $24.9 million in US dollars.
And now, fake 'Made in India' Chinese garments in Nigeria [India Times] (Thanks, HiPwr!)
Photo: Russ Neumeier
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Comments:
@bloggerX: Indian goods made in india are not counterfeit, technically speaking. So no thanks, i wont spend time repeating that 5 times.
@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Or if you order something custom made, they send the order off to a chinese factory, and then get it back and put the finishing touches on it in whatever country your buying it in or it supposedly came from. This allows them to put a Made in Italy or a Made in the USA label on it.
I hear there are a lot of custom shirt makers doing this, because its cheaper to send off the order than to have all the supplies and workers to make the shirts in the USA.
Even if something is produced in the USA, is it produced with materials that came from China or another country?
A little background here. A lot a African traditional outfits are made with these textiles. They are shipped in bulk and sold in markets all over the continent.
When you want to an outfit to make an entrance at that big event/wedding/birthday party/etc, you pick the material you want, then take it to a tailor that sews your outfit for you. It's a real traditional thing and a point of pride for most African women and men (although this is mostly a female thing).
It is also big business (think bespoke traditional clothing!). The prices range from the basic affordable stuff to insanely expensive. Markets that sell these imported cloths are usually packed on weekends and holidays with vendors promising exclusives and such.
@AlteredBeast:
Not much is made im America anymore.
You can get soda, and... well the fuel filter I bought yesterday... Half our food supply isn't even made in america anymore.
@Greasy Thumb Guzik:
Aren't Made in and Made by 2 different things?
Made by chinese workers in china probably not as good as made by chinese workers in italy. Italians might have some better standards. Just wanting cheaper labor.
@pupu: My Japanese tetsubin teapot was made in China, and my Alaskan reindeer pelt turned out to be a product of Finland. I just keep getting burned.
i see that the figures are being converted from crores to dollars. but shouldnt the exchange rate also be taken in consideration ? like 1 crore = 10 million. but 1 crore rupees = 200,00 dollars and NOT 10 million dollars. so that makes 224.7 crore rupees to be equal to 44.94 million dollars and so on.
just my 2 rupees.. oops i mean my 2 cents ;)
@AlteredBeast: I thought that most African countries already imported container loads of used US clothing and shoes. Supposedly this killed the local seamstress and tailor industry back in the mid 1990s...









The counterfeiters are counterfeiting the counterfeiters now o_O
Say that five times fast!