the Kenyan garment firms operate and the infrastructure available to support the development of B2B ecommerce.
2.1 The Garment Industry in Kenya
The Kenya garment and textile industry is composed of firms of varying sizes and technologies. The
firms produce for local, regional and international markets (McCormick et al 2001). Large firms employ
more than 100 employees, medium-sized firms employ between 51 and a 100 employees, and small firms
employ between one and 50 employees. Firms producing for international markets are mainly medium
and large-sized while those producing for the domestic market are mainly small firms. Larger and smaller
enterprises differ in the types of technology that they use. Large firms tend to engage in mass production
and utilise industrial machines while small enterprises tend to use manual or electric powered machines.
The firms’ products in this sector include women’s dresses, undergarments, children’s clothes, shirts,
shorts, trousers and T-shirts. Most of the garment-manufacturing firms are located in Nairobi, Mombasa
and Nakuru.
2.1.1 Evolution of the Industry
The garment and textile industry in Kenya dates from the colonial period. As early as 1954, the industry
had a total of 74 enterprises employing 2,477 workers (Kinyanjui, 1992). Until recently the garment
industry was one of the most important manufacturing activities in Kenya. The industry grew rapidly in
the immediate post independence period. It thrived because of the protection offered to firms under the
import substitution strategy. It also grew because of government investment in the industry. The
government through its parastatal - Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) invested heavily in the garment and textile industry. Government-owned garment and textile industries
were located in major towns in the country. The government had significant shares in textile firms such as
KICOMI (Kisumu), Rivatex (Eldoret), Kenya Textile Mills (Thika) and Mountex (Nanyuki). Privately
owned garment firms evolved and thrived in the import substitution era. Examples of these private firms
were: Yuken, Thika Cloth Mills, United Textile Mills, Sunflag, Spinners and Spinners and Raymonds.
Garment firms, like manufacturing in general benefited from the protectionist policies that lasted until the
mid 1980s. Like other manufacturing sectors more generally, the garment and textile industry failed to
create strong vertical and horizontal linkages with other sectors which, left them vulnerable when the
protectionist policies were abandoned (Sharpley and Lewis 1988; McCormick, 1999).
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