Africa Sourcing and the AGOA Extension

"AGOA Provision Related to the Third Country Fabric Provision Anticipated to Pass Congress Next Week"

    

     --  Staff Member, U.S. Senator Menendez' office in DC

This week I attended TEXWORLD in NYC, which is a textiles and apparel trade show open to those of us in the industry and the public at large. 

While Chinese suppliers made up a large majority, I was pleased to see others hailing from S. Korea, Turkey, and of course, India, among others, as well as a corridor for African sourcing, with a number of vendors from Mauritius, and Origin Africa (http://originafrica.org).

Together at the convention were a series of public seminars, one of which focused on trade and Africa, and particularly on sourcing from Africa. Many companies are interested in sourcing from Africa, and this interest has been steadily growing since the AGOA agreement came into effect.

Currently, we are awaiting the (hoped for and) anticipated passage of a special provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which allows fabrics from other countries to be used in the manufacturing process and still qualify for the benefit of “AGOA treatment, ” i.e., duty free treatment, of the product.  For more information on AGOA, check out my other articles here:

The African Fashion Industry – Can in Benefit From AGOA?

The African Fashion Industry and AGOA

I spoke with Senator Menendez’ (NJ state senator) staff in Washington DC yesterday, who assured me that there is a lot of bi-partisan support for the passage of the AGOA provision awaiting passage by the Senate, which involves the continued permission for imports into the US to qualify for the duty-free treatment accorded by the AGOA agreement when fabrics from non-African/non-US countries had been used in the construction of the garment.

I expressed to the staff member that these types of delays make it difficult for businesses to accurately make financial projections in the uncertain commercial environment created when company’s do not know if their cost of importation is going to rise, on average, from anywhere between 10% to 35%.  It therefore, could serve as a deterrent from sourcing from Africa which defeats the whole purpose of a program like the AGOA that is intended to promote increased sourcing from Sub-Saharan Africa.

He assured me that this was known but explained that the AGOA passage was tied up with other trade bills that likewise needed support and which, in their current forms, were not fully supported.

Many people are calling there to express their support for the passage and I encourage you to do the same.  The telephone nos. for Senator Menendez’ office is (202) 224-4744 and the general switchboard in order to be connected to any U.S. Senator’s office is (202) 224-3121.

Feel free to call over there and when connected to a Senator’s office, tell them you would like to speak to someone regarding the “Africa trade bill,” – they’re more likely to understand this comment than stating the "AGOA agreement" - and then express why continued legislative AGOA support is important to you.

Exercise your voice.  Isn’t this what a democracy is all about?

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

New Importers and Federal Agency Requirements

I met a woman recently who showed me the cutest dresses for babies, so cute in fact, that I was “gushing” over how cute one sample dress was!

Aesthetics aside, I quickly realized that like most new importers, this aspiring one of babies wear had much to learn about lawfully importing into the US.  All consumer products are subject to compliance with the rules laid out by US federal agencies, whether it is related to food (for which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) has oversight), clothing (which has multiple agencies overseeing the product, and for which the requirements may change depending upon the nature of the product), or any other product.

It is important to note that any article being imported into the US must also comply with US Customs own guidelines.  Additional agency rules on apparel come into play thereafter, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule on the disclosure of fiber content, or the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) tracking label requirement on children’s products.

As US Customs is the “watchdog” for compliance with other federal agency requirements at the border, products that are not compliant with it’s product specific rules run the risk of being held up at the border, directed to be re-exported, or even worse, seized by the US government.

All of these rules are not only applicable at importation but in the case of clothing, they should also be known by those interested in manufacturing, distributing, selling, and for certain products, even offering to sell these articles. 

So for those of you interested in buying a business or even just buying products from distributors here in the USA, remember, the goods you sell must be compliant too with federal and state regulations or you can be at risk of fines and penalties from the different federal and state agencies.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Africa Fashion Panel and International Trade

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on Africa Fashion that was hosted by my department at F.I.T., the International Trade and Marketing Dept., and produced by Adiree for Africa Fashion Week New York, which is going on this week. 

The questions were thought provoking and covered questions that “inquiring minds wanted to know.”  The responses from the panelists were a combination of experience, inspiration, and the reality of the business, such as comments from a gentleman regarding designing with the fabrics and the color palettes “du jour” in order to be a little more mainstream (which I translated to mean larger consumer base, or in other words, more buyers).

Earlier in the day I had been showing my bright and enthusiastic law clerk the trend forecasts for 2011 during a discussion on importing samples not for resale.  Sure enough, she was amazed at how the colors and fabric blends we see people on the street still wearing this year were those forecasted (for industry purposes) back in 2009, for 2011.  His comment therefore, really resonated with me, as designers and many other industries use these books in order to know the “trend” ahead of time, and use colors and fabrics accordingly in their season’s collections.

The social enterprise aspect of the African Fashion Industry was compelling as well, as not only did the many panelists share the component of their operation that was giving back to a community, whether it was creating libraries or internships overseas, another pointed out how merely sourcing from an African country and thereby, creating jobs and teaching skills, was very much a social enterprise in and of itself.

Talking with the designers about infrastructure issues in African countries, and one designer in particular about her production in Zimbabwe where goods need to be transported to South Africa for export, brought to light the costs involved in doing international trade when selling to foreign markets.  It also brought to light corruption issues involved in transportation and reminded me of the insurance and accountability issues that are realities in all foreign transactions, not just Africa.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Africa Fashion and International Trade Panel - TODAY 2 - 4 PM

Hope you can join me this afternoon for this free Africa Fashion Week New York/Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Event in NYC!


Topic: Africa As An Emerging Market for  Luxury | Sustainable | Eco-Friendly Fashion(s)

• Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
• Time: 2 PM to 4 PM

Location: Katie Murphy Amphitheater at FIT
                7th Ave W 27th St
                New York, NY 10001 – 59