Asia Is Not Always The Cheaper Manufacturing Destination

A couple years into the business, the 46-year-old realised that aside from quality and pricing, the main challenges posed by imports was the discrepancy between the size of women in different parts of the world.

“I am a large in Asia and in Kenya I am a small. So (by importing from Asia) we couldn’t cater to anything beyond a size 14 which is average for women in Kenya,” she said.

She also began to question the market perception which dictated it would be cheaper to import rather than manufacture locally. And so eight months ago, she went against the tide, imported fabric from Asia and set up a workshop on Ngong Road in Nairobi with seven tailors. The concept worked well, and between 40 to 50 per cent of what she sells in her stores today is locally made.

“Everyone told me it is very expensive to do and you won’t make as much money when you do it locally. But I am finding that on some products it is cheaper for me than to buy from the wholesale markets in Bangkok,” she said.

She admits, however, that what may have worked in her favour is that she had an established distribution channel in place, a reputation and a clientele base when she started manufacturing locally — an advantage that young local designers often do not have.