Dressing: Let’s Produce What We Wear!

D ressing means choosing outfits that reflect your personal identity, boost your confidence, and align with how you want to feel. Produ­ cing what we wear starts with focusing on fitting, mood, and practical self-expression. In Cameroon, dressing is a blend of modern Western outfits and rich, varied traditional garments such as the toghu, ndop, Sanja, boubou and kabba. These garments celebrate the country's rich cultural diversity through unique fabrics, hand-stitched embroidery, and regional patterns. For several decades now, one hardly find a visitor to any Region who returns without buying any of the outfits alongside some of the accessories. These outfits, apart from being symbols of pride on the international scene, have become very strong cultural identities. For anyone to showcase his or her “belonging” during an event, he or she must dress in one of the out­ fits. While many Cameroo­ nians wish for these fa­ brics to be made available to all at affordable prices, it is becoming more and more difficult to dress in locally produced garments. Cameroon, once a promising textile and garment sector, is facing growing strain as the importation of se­ cond-hand clothes, popularly known as “okrika” or “friperie,” continues to soar. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Cameroon imported 72,600 tons of second-hand clothes va­ lued at FCFA 39.8 billion in 2024. This marks an 18.6% increase in volume and a 31.8% rise in value compared to 2023, when the country im­ ported 61,221 tons worth FCFA 30.2 billion. The boom in second-hand clothing has coincided with a steep decline in Cameroon’s cotton, textile, and garment industry. Official data show that local manufacturers now control less than 5% of the national fabric market, losing ground to cheaper imports often linked to smuggling and low-cost textiles. The result has been factory closures, idle industrial capacity, and job losses. Though some experts argue that the trade in second-hand clothing has become a major source of employment, supporting importers, wholesalers, and thousands of market vendors across the country, it is silently killing the country’s economy at high speed. Because the surge underscores how second-hand clothing has become entrenched in everyday consumption, the immediate major impact is that, it is reflecting rising inflation and declining hou­ sehold purchasing power. To reverse the trend, the government has made reviving the textile sector a priority under its Na­ tional Development Strategy 2020-2030 (SND30). Under this framework, cotton production by SO­ DECOTON is expected to rise to 600,000 tons an­ nually, from around 350,000 tons currently. At least 50% of that output is to be processed locally by 2030. Achieving this goal will depend on the development of competitive textile and garment industr...