Pirated designs ruin textile industry

05 Sep '06

2 min read

Surge in the sale of fake logos and designs of many textile firms in Ghana have negated any effort on the part of the Government to revive local textile and garment industry.

Even the most prominent companies could not face this onslaught and one of them is Juapong Textiles Limited (JTL), badly affected by this.

Other companies like Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), Ghana Textiles Printing (GTP), and Ghana Textiles Manufacturing Company (GTMC) are fighting hard to stay put.

Efforts by Government to curb the smuggling by making Takoradi Port as the main entry point for African wax prints has yielded no result as pirated prints smuggled into Ghana via unapproved routes.

Clamping down on textile dealers has not stopped them from dealing in these fake prints and they have changed their method to escape the securities.

Half piece of ATL cloth is sold between ¢150,000 to ¢180,000 while a pirated design of the same company costs between ¢80,000 and ¢100,000, divulged one of the print dealers.

Reason for this disparity has been attributed to the incompetence of local producers to meet demands, for which ATL holds Chinese imitations responsible.

Textile industry is a big contributor in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides employment to a large number of people and the further weakening of the sector would affect the economy badly.

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