H&M To Leverage On Ethiopia’s Low Cost Clothing Industry

Posted on August 16, 2013 09:47 am under Business, Retail & Manufacturing, Strategies & Solutions
H&M
VENTURES AFRICA – World’s second biggest fashion retailer, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), plans to make clothing in Ethiopia, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Friday.
The influential business newspaper reported that the company targeted Ethiopia because it would costs less to make clothing in the East African hub which is also one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent.
WSJ reported that the move was driven by an increasing number of clothing stores the company has to stock up with its brands as it starts operations in more countries.
Ventures Africa recently reported that H&M planned to set up shop in Johannesburg, South Africa. It opened its first shop in Sweden in 1947. It is currently present in over 40 countries.
According to WSJ, H&M currently depends on Bangladesh for the making of clothes and itsAfrican expansion strategy is aimed at increasing its sourcing footmark.
Camilla Emilsson-Falk, H&M spokesperson, confirmed to WSJ that the company hadalready placed “test orders with Ethiopian suppliers.”
“As a growing global company we have to look at how we guarantee that we have the capacity to deliver products to all our stores where we have a rapid pace of expansion,” WSJ quoted Edmilsson-Falk as saying.
“We are doing that by increasing production in our existing production areas and also by looking at new ones.”