One of Ghana’s leading fashion designers, Cross Fashion Designs, has called on Ghanaian fashion designers in the industry to add value to their products so as to remain competitive as Ghana hosts the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
The AfCFTA is a duty-free single market with a free quota covering the entire African continent.
According to the Elijah Nyamekye Amoako, CEO of Cross Fashion, the hosting of AfCFTA Secretariat in Ghana will open Ghana to the whole of Africa and the world, hence young entrepreneurs need to endeavour to add value to their goods and services to be able to meet international standards.
Speaking in an interview, Elijah Nyamekye Amoako, designers in the fashion industry must begin to place great importance to the finishing of their end products.
He explained that people mostly assumed that Ghanaian produce inferior goods hence are not much attached to what Ghana gives out to them. He therefore charged the sector players to concentrate more on their finishing.
“Why do people consider foreign goods as the best and of good quality? It is because of their finishing. We need to invest more on good quality fabrics, we must know the customer and know what he or she needs,” he said.
Cross Fashion also pointed out that the more fashion designers focus on quantity rather than quality, the more they lose their relevance in the industry.
He explained that most designers are much concerned about the quantity of goods they produce within a period and forget to place such same importance to the quality of the goods they produce; this, he said is not good for the business and will not match them to those coming from the other countries.
He also talked about Turn Around Time, which he consider a critical factor in the production and value chain.
He mentioned that fashion designers must also endeavour to meet targets and be able to always deliver on time.
“For me I always make sure I deliver ahead of time. This will give the customer the chance to try the product on and if there are any amendments to be made we do. When you do that, you will always win the customers’ trust and business grows. You will always remain relevant in the industry,” he noted.
He also expressed the hope that customer satisfaction is the driver of any business, hence the need for all entrepreneurs especially the young and upcoming ones, to ensure that they produce to satisfy their customers.
He advised fellow fashion designers to ensure sustainability of their work, stressing that the more owns of fashion houses change their workers, the more the quality of their work diminishes.
He called on them to create that enabling working environment for their workers so that they will always maintain the quality and standard of their finished products.
By PROSPER AGBENYEGA