Accra, Aug. 18, GNA – Ghana’s first indigenous textile brand, GTP, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association (GNTDA) to boost apparel production.
This is part of the Company’s corporate social strategy to create jobs and contribute to the growth of the economy.
The partnership seeks to empower 5,000 tailors with the requisite skills and tools to produce ready-to-wear clothing fit for Ghanaians and the export market in the next five years.
At a brief ceremony in Accra, Ms Fatoumata Doro, the Managing Director of Tex Styles Ghana Limited, manufacturer of GTP and Vlisco textile prints, said building a long-lasting legacy for Ghanaians demanded a consistent business growth that could only be sustained by innovation.
“This signing is also to support that new positioning of the brand, which is beyond just being a manufacturer brand and selling of fabric. We want our brand to be seen as a fashionable brand and we can only achieve that when we ensure that the people sewing our fabric are empowered with the necessary skills.
“We cannot win this industry without adding value; manufacturing just fabric is not enough, transforming the fabric to ready to wear is the game changer if we want this industry to survive.”
She said GTP would train tailors on how to sew ready-to-wear clothing, adding that “300 tailors are to be trained before next year as 200 have been trained already.”
She highlighted some challenges of the textile industry to include the smuggling of pirated fabrics into the country.
“That is the biggest challenge we face, we used to have over 14 textile companies in the country but now we have just five of them and it is because of the copies.”
She commended the intervention from the Minister of Trade and Industry to support the industry with the tax stamps, which would be rolled-out in August.
“It is our hope that this will help solve part of the problems we face,” Ms Doro said.
The National President of GNTDA, Joana Eshun Mensah, expressed hope that the collaboration would open doors of opportunities for youth employment and skills acquisition across the country.
“We are going to make good use of this opportunity and learn how to manipulate the motives in the GTP fabric so that we can bring out the beauty of the fabric and enhance sales for GTP,” she said.
GNA