Tunis fashion fest combats flagging textile industry

GAMMARTH, Tunisia - Agence France-Presse

Designers presented their creations at the first Tunis Fashion Festival. AFP photo

As designers unveiled their latest creations at a first Tunis fashion show, experts from Tunisia’s embattled textile sector studied ideas to revive a flagging industry.

“Our main goal is to enhance the sector’s image and offer a welcoming place for people to swap ideas on how to start partnerships ... and encourage new creative talent,” said Samir Ben Abdallah, organizer of last week’s festival.

At the two-day event, models decked out in creations of young Tunisian designers strutted their stuff in front of international industry experts, artists and fashion addicts. But in the conference halls, talk turned to the economy, as the Tunisian textile and clothing sector has been badly hit by the financial crisis sweeping its main clients, notably France.

Combined with the climate of insecurity that followed Tunisia’s January 2011 revolution, foreign investors have proved reluctant to plough fresh funds into the country.

“A handful of foreign investors are prepared to launch projects here, but they are waiting to see stability return to the streets,” Samir Houet, director general of the Technical Center of Textiles (CETTEX), told AFP.

Around 70 Tunisian textiles firms have had to shut their doors since the revolution, he said.
The industry’s current structure has added fresh challenges, with Tunisia failing to keep up with changes in the sector, such as cheaper labor costs and fluctuations in demand from Europe.

‘Industry is very fragile’

“The industry in Tunisia is in a very fragile state today. Its main handicap is its dependence on exports and its main clients who have undergone have upheavals,” said Francois-Marie Grau of France’s clothing industry union.

Out of more than 2,000 Tunisian textile and clothing businesses, 1,700 only deal in exports, basically working as sub-contractors for larger distributors. Moreover, the model has seized up, as shown by a 7.9 percent drop in exports in 2012 from the year before, according to official statistics.