Textile & apparel

Bolstered by our strategic position in the global economy, improved capital productivity and competitive labor market, we have emerged as the new regional sourcing destination for textile and apparel. In search of cost-efficient production, many large producers have made Ethiopia their preferred investment destination—including PVH, H&M, The Children’s Place, Decathlon, Wuxi, Sunshine, Arvind, Kingdom, Kanoria and many more leading brands.

We have a strong competitiveness in the production of fabrics, bags, suits, linens, t-shirts and undergarments. We offer large and growing markets both locally and internationally, and the textile and apparel sector is one of the priority areas receiving strong government support and investment incentives. Since 2020, our textile and apparel sector has grown four-fold, generating over USD 140 million in exports. Preferential trade agreements such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Everything But Arms (EBA) have catalyzed export to the USA and Europe. Further, to facilitate investments, we have built industrial parks dedicated to textiles and garments and offer a ‘plug and play’ opportunity.

We are on our way to becoming the leading textile and manufacturing hub in Africa, with a goal of exporting USD 30 billion in the next decade. Our investment law reforms have cleared the way for establishing integrated textile industries—starting from cotton cultivating to ginning, spinning, weaving and dyeing fabrics, and production of garments and apparel. Due to the increasing production of garments, a growing opportunity in producing trims and accessories has also emerged.