We are just lazy and vision-less. If Egypt grows cotton solely using the waters of the nile, why can't we do the same with the tana and athi rivers that traverse hundreds of km of suitable cotton lands before the water disappears into the ocean? In addition to cotton, those areas could be kenya's grain baskets. If egypt and pakistan can do it, and irrigate to grow cotton, rice, oranges etc that we import from them, why can't we do the same?

Kenyans are neither lazy nor vision-less. The problem is about how our economic and political systems are designed and run. Maybe it's even a matter of maturing that's needed for a real take off. Let me illustrate: pre-independence Kenya is an economic system benefiting who? The struggle for independence comes but whose interests come first? Post-independence comes, who is the main beneficiary of the Kenyan economic system? All three questions have one answer, the global elite that started the game in the first place.

We're only 52 years old since independence, very young in terms of a country full of natives. We are only starting to wake up. So the task isn't about bashing ourselves or even wondering why we aren't doing what Pakistan or whoever is doing. The task is about finding out what exactly what challenges we're facing and how we can create solutions for them. It's not about cotton, or oranges...

Wewe wacha kutudanganya. The makers of bales of cotton are not the same people who cut the fabric to make a shirt or underwear.

Jobs 1 - The scientist who develops the seed to grow high yield cotton (KARI)
Jobs 2 - The distributor and seller of the seed
Jobs 3 - The Farmer who plants the seed and harvests the cotton
Jobs 4 - The miller who spins and weaves the cotton into different grades

Jobs 5 - buyers who blend cotton with other materials to come up with different fabrics
Jobs 6 - makers of items such as shirt, towels, bed-sheets etc to makers of underwear handkerchiefs head-scarfs socks etc
Jobs 7 - Wholesalers
Jobs 8 - Retailers (Supermarkets to exhibition stalls)

Most jobs in Kenya are in category 8

By the way, the story of its cheaper to produce it elsewhere is a propaganda. We have all it takes to build capacity

sasa nimedanganya wapi ? where have I mentioned that the makers of cotton bales also make the clothes.

All I said was that there are some clothes whose price is determined mostly by fabric and others where its the brand/human resource that mostly determine the price.

I also stated the cotton industry was vibrant sometimes back, but is no more, I also stated rivatex and spinners do some fabric locally.

to your point, rivatex has a clothes making division, it is not the common trend world wide, but yes rivatex does milling and making some clothing from that.

But I was not arguing, was just stating what I see happening locally and the little I do, I buy some fabric which is imported, I also buy some done locally and make clothes locally and sell the same, both online and in brick and mortal shop.

Handkerchiefs, socks e.t.c are basic cuts, variation is minimal, if you are to compete with china you need to do the same in large volumes to match the price, for that you need large quantities of fabric to bring the price down.

you buy the fabric from china, so for such clothes that are very minimal you are basically competing on the cost of fabric.

Now when you look at the more refined clothes, the human input/resource is vital in producing a fancy dress with kimono sleeves, or some fancy lace patters paired with soft silk or chiffon - at that level you can do your dress locally and price it competitively with what comes from china.

ama uongo unakujia wapi hapo, I might be biased thus not able to see the lie in it.

Socks ni polyester wachana na hio not so many Africans wear socks anyway. Handkerchief, headscarf? White cotton cloth printed and maybe some sewing on the edges, same material making dresses or lining is what makes handkerchiefs.

600bob is a price for someone using it in low volumes. A bulk buyer will most likely get it way cheaper. If you are in the business you should know that there's no fixed price for everyone

that guy @murchr knows everything he never loses.

I don't think wazua is about a competition, its good to question things the way he does.

But still going back to this case, I just wanted to show that for basic clothing its the fabric that matters most.

Even if you get the thing in wholesale, just look at alibaba and for a min order of around 3000 meters you get the cotton shirting fabric at around 1.2-2 usd per meter, that's around 120 bob min, add shipping costs and tax it comes to around 200 + per meter that give you a fabric cost of around 14bob per piece add the other stuff and you are already in the 20 + bob range.

**I know you know this already, but I once worked for a muhindi and what I picked from him is buying from the source (mfr) is always cheaper. Wholesalers will always charge you at a premium, if you are a good buyer ie you have learnt to develop a good rapport you will be amazed at how cheap stuff is. With the muhindi we bought asphalt in containers...dirt cheap. Learn the ropes of the business.. you will get there.