24577: Hermantin (news) Haiti struggles to save its apparel industry

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leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Sun-Sentinel
Haiti struggles to save its apparel industry
by Doreen Hemlock
Business Writer

March 28, 2005

Haiti's once vibrant apparel industry is shrinking amid changes in the 
garment business, instability in the island nation and rising competition 
from low-cost China.

The poorest country in the Americas has lost about 5,000 garment jobs in the 
last year, or one in six in its top industry.

That leaves only about 25,000 people in the business that employed at least 
twice that number at its peak in the 1980s, executives said at a recent 
trade show in Florida.

Hardest hit: small manufacturers, who used to rely on U.S. companies sending 
them piecework to be assembled into clothes and shipped back to the United 
States.

The trend today is for U.S. buyers to ask factories to take on more 
responsibility. Contractors increasingly must find and buy fabric, zippers 
and supplies; cut patterns; sew garments; pack clothes and in some cases, 
ship them to specific stores, in what is called "full-package" production. 
Those tasks require more cash, technical know-how and managerial skill than 
assembly.

Many Haitian factories can't make the switch. With small volumes, they can't 
afford to buy and run fabric-cutting machines and the high-tech equipment 
needed to track more complex inventories and tasks.

Furthermore, they face brutal competition. The system of quotas on world 
apparel trade ended Jan. 1, giving China and other nations with low-cost 
labor and strong fabric industries more U.S. access.

To avert steeper losses, some Haitian companies are joining to offer 
"full-package" between them. The months-old Astralis Group spans about a 
dozen firms, including manufacturers and banks. They're working with U.S. 
consultants specializing in full-package production, said Astralis President 
Marie Louise Baker.

"We're hoping we can save jobs and keep many factories open," she said at 
Haiti's booth at the recent Material World trade fair in Miami Beach.

Haitian leaders also are pushing a new bill in the U.S. Congress that would 
let Haiti import some non-U.S. fabric and sell clothes made with that fabric 
to the U.S. market without duties. Current law lets Haiti sell U.S. 
duty-free only when garments use U.S. cloth.

Supporters, including Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., say the legislation would 
help make garment manufacturing in Haiti more attractive, since a mix of 
cloth from Mexico and other specified nations may be cheaper than all-U.S. 
fabric.

Haiti has been pushing similar legislation for several years, but faced 
opposition from some U.S. fabric makers. They feared imports of non-U.S. 
cloth could hurt their sales in Haiti and could set a precedent for other 
nations.

But Astralis consultants said they hope U.S. fabric makers will see the 
bigger picture and back the bill known as HOPE.

"Haiti's production is so small that it's not going to have any effect on 
the United States," said apparel specialist Don Truluck of High Point, N.C., 
noting some factories in China produce more than all Haiti combined.

Plus, reviving Haiti's garment industry can help a nation where 80 percent 
of residents live in abject poverty. A stronger Haiti long term will boost 
future sales of all U.S. goods to a neighbor that trades mainly with the 
United States, added Barry Horowitz of Boca Raton-based Linbar Group.

"The enemy for the U.S. textile industry is not Haiti. It's China," Horowitz 
said, charging Beijing with subsidizing its fabric industries to drive down 
prices and unfairly compete with U.S. producers.

To be sure, Haitian companies still face hurdles convincing buyers that 
their troubled island -- with its interim government, violent clashes and 
weak transport systems -- can handle apparel contracts.

But Baker and others note Haiti's factories are filling orders now, and 
business should be smoother after elections set for late this year and if 
the HOPE legislation is approved.

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.


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