Togo’s ‘Nana-Benz’: how cheap Chinese imports of African fabrics has hurt the famous women traders

Togo’s ‘Nana-Benz’: how cheap Chinese imports of African fabrics has hurt the famous women traders

The manufacturing of African print textiles has shifted to China in the 21st century. While they are widely consumed in African countries – and symbolic of the continent – the rise of “made in China” has undermined the African women traders who have long shaped the retail and distribution of this cloth. For many decades Vlisco, the Dutch textile group which traces its origins to 1846 and whose products had been supplied to west Africa by Europea…

Togo’s ‘Nana-Benz’: how cheap Chinese imports of African fabrics have hurt the famous women traders

The manufacturing of African print textiles has shifted to China in the 21st century. While they are widely consumed in African countries – and symbolic of the continent – the rise of “made in China” has undermined the African women traders who have long shaped the retail and distribution of this cloth.For many decades Vlisco, the Dutch textile group which traces its origins to 1846 and whose products had been supplied to west Africa by European…

Togo's 'Nana-Benz': how cheap Chinese imports of African fabrics has hurt the famous women traders

Chinese manufactured cloth has undermined the monopoly on the trade of Dutch African print textiles that Togolese traders once enjoyed.