Is the Shirt on Your Back Made In Africa?

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I want to touch on the topic of the African textile Industry. As I am going to be releasing my first fashion collection in a couple of weeks, (which I will post on here) I am pretty much interested in this subject.

I read a BBC article a while back pertaining to the African Textile Industry. The article was titled 'Africa have your say: Is the shirt on your back made in Africa?' here is the article

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/africahaveyoursay/2010/04/is-the-shirt-on-your-back-made-1.shtml

After reading that article, the questions needed to answer are:

1) Is Africa's cotton industry in danger of disappearing?
2) Can Africans do more to save it?
3) Do you consciously try to buy African clothes or are other
producers doing it for less and getting your custom as a result?

I think those questions they asked are very important. We Africans always complain about our industries not being good enough etc etc, yet we do very little to support them. Why is that? Why are Africans so quick to substitute a product made in their own country for a foreign one? Of course the quality might not be so great, but the lack of revenue and lack of support by AFricans towards their industries results in lower quality products. The greater the support the more revenue one can have to produce more quality products.

In the case of the textile industry, many Africans would rather substitutute their own countrie's fabric for a Dutch one. Dutch fabrics have become the favourite in West Africa, huh? Why isnt ours te favourite?

I made a concious desicion that when designing my collection, the fabrics will be majoritively African derived. And yes we do have great quality fabrics that are still waiting to be discovered, such as Woodin.

Whats your opinion on this? Consider the questions asked

1) Is Africa's cotton industry in danger of disappearing?
2) Can Africans do more to save it?
3) Do you consciously try to buy African clothes or are other
producers doing it for less and getting your custom as a result?

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And another thing to bear in mind, even if you buy African clothes, do you consider if that fabric is produced in Africa?

[locdiva]

I design clothes too. But I llok for and use African textiles when I am able yo put a fashion line out.

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Thats a good desicion , I think many young AFricans nowadays dont invest enough in our countries economy yet we continue to complain about the economy.

[anansi]

There is a direct correlation between exploring ones roots and culture and economics those of you who remember the 80ts-90ts will remember the rise in sales of Ken-ti cloth,Incense and Egyptian cotton, my dwelling space is decorated in African fabrics.