American clothing giant Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, that owns brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger could potentially source over a quarter of its garment production from Africa within five years, according to the company’s CEO Emanuel Chirico.

Opening up on the topic, Chirico said that his company has been involved in Africa for over 10 years and it represents a little over 5-6 per cent of its global production. He further said that the production could grow over the next five years to something that would approach over 25 per cent. He was talking at a panel discussion at last week’s US-Africa Business Forum in New York.

Chirico noted that Eastern Africa has been identified as a clothing production destination. The company has already been manufacturing some garments in Kenya and has recently set up a factory in Ethiopia’s Hawassa Industrial Park, a mega facility located 275 kms southeast of Addis Ababa.

Going into details, Chirico said that East Africa shows great promise and it is for a number of reasons. One, the partnership that has been built between the industry, government and also the donor base to really invest behind the training of workers and to make sure the facilities are set up in the appropriate way, from a corporate social responsibility point of view.

While Asian countries like China and Bangladesh remain top sourcing destinations for clothing, they are facing a number of economic and social challenges that are making them less attractive to global brands. These include rising Chinese production costs, labour-rights violations and workplace accidents like the collapse of a Bangladesh factory three years. On the other hand, Ethiopia and Kenya have the potential to become big competitors in global apparel manufacturing, according to research firm McKinsey & Company. These markets already benefit from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).