PIA: Sales of made-in-Togo clothes set to begin in January 2023
Friday, 07 October 2022 13:07 
(Togo First) - More than 2,000 people have been trained at the Garment Training Center -GTC of the PIA-Togo in the past 16 months. The figure was disclosed by sources close to the matter.
According to GTC’s manager, Sathiyamurthy Rajamanikkam, sales of clothes produced at the facility could begin next January.
Initially, the executive added, the made-in-Togo clothes produced at GTC will be sold across the ECOWAS, a market of 400 million people. However, later, when factories like Togo Clothing Company (TCC), a subsidiary of Indian cloth maker ITCRmg, come into the country, Europe and US will be targeted. Togo, it should be noted, has preferential duty-free access to the US (via the AGOA), the EU (EBA), the UK (Commonwealth), and China (which recently suppressed 98% of customs duties on goods it imports from Togo).
In line with the ambition to conquer foreign markets, more than 500 new textile workers should join the PIA’s textile park by the end of December 2022.
"We are delighted to be able to ensure the professionalization of the actors in the textile value chains and to make modern textile techniques and technologies available to them," said Jesse Damsky, PIA's Director General.
Togo, a cotton producer, wants to fully take advantage of its CmiA-certified cotton. For now, however, spinning, weaving, and knitting, which are key steps in making clothes from cotton, are not done locally – and will not be until the end of 2023. In the meantime, the fabrics needed to make clothing are imported.
As a reminder, textile facilities located at the PIA are required to export at least 70% of their production, with a goal of over $40 million per year in export revenue in the long run.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
