Understanding technological capabilities in the Kenyan textile and apparel sector: a patchwork market of tailors, fashion designers, and stylists

Abstract

This research project examines the extent to which the entrepreneurs in the Kenyan cities of Mombasa and Nairobi engage with the global textile and apparel value chain in order to accumulate the technological capabilities required to enter and be competitive in the local market. I argue that the entrepreneurs extend the production process of the global textile and apparel value chain into the local market, and that the accumulation of technological capabilities shapes that production process. The ways in which the entrepreneurs navigate and negotiate the processes and structures of the global textile and apparel value chain in order to accumulate technological capabilities is able to explain the construction of knowledge in the local market.

The primary research question that motivates the research project is: How do the entrepreneurs in Mombasa and Nairobi engage with the global textile and apparel value chain in order to accumulate the technological capabilities needed to enter and be competitive in the local market? To answer that question, I adopt the technological capability (TC) approach in combination with the global production network (GPN) approach, and draw on scholarship in African studies, global value chains, international development, technological capabilities, and textile and apparel production. The TC approach captures all of the activities that the entrepreneurs assume in order to accumulate technological capabilities, while the GPN approach encompasses all of the participants in the local market, especially those considered outside of the value chain. Technological capabilities is a concept that refers to the experience, knowledge, and skills that an individual or an organization accumulates over a period of time.

To provide a more nuanced assessment, I connect the scholarship on the global textile and apparel value chain and technological capabilities, draw on the data from 130 in-depth interviews, and put the local market at the center of the analysis. I consider all of the entrepreneurs in the local market as agents of change who act as catalysts for economic growth and industrial development. This is a significant contribution to the literature that gives a greater prominence to the entrepreneurs who produce for the global market. The local market is composed of entrepreneurs – tailors, fashion designers, and stylists – that produce and reproduce clothes for the local consumer. The entrepreneurs participate in activities that extend from the global production system in order to expand their skill set and enhance their performance in the local market. For example, a fashion designer participates in an in-house training program at an Exporting Processing Zone (EPZ), which is the part of the global textile and apparel value chain that produces the final product. By participating in the in-house training program, the fashion designer is able to acquire skills in production, such as pattern drafting and garment construction. Or a tailor purchases a t-shirt from the second-hand clothing market, which is the part of the global textile and apparel value chain that resells the final product. By shopping at the second-hand clothing market, the tailor is able to acquire skills in investment, such as project preparation and sourcing time. I explain the ways in which the entrepreneurs navigate and negotiate the processes and structures of the global textile and apparel value chain in order to accumulate the technological capabilities needed to enter and be competitive in the local market. My exploration of this pattern of navigation and negotiation reveals how the production process of the global textile and apparel value chain continues into the local market, and the ways in which the accumulation of technological capabilities influence that process. In doing so, the research makes a significant contribution to the literature that currently diminishes the role of the construction of knowledge in the local market.