Garment Accounts For 90 Percent of Haiti's Export

July 20, 2015 7:20 AM

The Haitian clothing industry plays an important role in the country's economy. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the industry makes up 80-90% of the country's exports to the United States with supports of trade free deals through the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act, commonly known as HOPE. The garment industry in Haiti mainly focuses on low-end apparel clothing and cranking out plain T-shirts for the U.S companies such as Walmart, Gildan and Hanes. As of 2012, this sector employed more than 30,000 workers and accounted for about 10% of the country's GDP. In the last week of May, Haiti's Center for the Facilitation of Investments (CFI) and Association of Industries of Haiti have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Inter-American Development Bank for continuing their financial support for the existing duty-free trade agreement with the United States. During the last calendar year (2014), $854.3 million worth of textiles and apparel were shipped to the U.S.

Industrial Revolution II (IIRII) is a different kind of garment factory in Haiti which invests 50% of profits into workers and the local community. These expenditures are not mere charitable donations; rather they are durable investments through training, healthcare, education and infrastructure, necessary to improve the social conditions and promoting economic development in the region.

A recent study by the British think tank, Overseas Development Institute, based on the WTO statistics, has shown that world's top ten less developed countries have a high dependence on clothing exports. As per 2006 statistics, Haiti leads the list with 85.2% share of textile in total merchandise exports, followed by Bangladesh (76.6%), Cambodia (70.4%) and Lesotho (64.1%). The textiles and clothing industry in developing countries, mostly involves around the jobs of garment assemblers. Historically, in the developed countries, the process of industrialization and subsequent prosperity were found to be interlinked; which had been commenced mostly with the mechanization of textile production and this fact is clearly evident since the early 19th Century.

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Garment Accounts For 90 Percent of Haiti's Export

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