1. Product Description: Under garments are clothes worn close to the body or those clothes which have direct contact with the body. These are clothes like pants, sweaters, etc. Under garments are also called under wears. These garments are made from knitted or woven fabrics.
2. Rationale: The supply of under-wears especially pants is completely dominated by imports. Apart from some production of sweaters (kanatira) by one or two local textile mills, the bulk of domestic consumption of under wears is met by imports. Under wears are composed of two pieces of garment the upper part which is the sweater and the lower part which is the pants. The upper part is always made from knitted fabrics while the lower part is made either from knitted or woven fabrics. In Europe and North America almost all under wears are made from knitted fabrics. The domestic market of under wears is composed of products made from knitted and woven fabrics. How the market fro under wears is flooded by imports from the Far East can be observed by looking at the street markets, so-called boutiques, and garment shops. There seems there is an over supply (excessive import) of these and other similar products. Under wears are simple products which require only sewing. They are not subject to fashion changes. They do not require highly skilled designers and tailors. There are standard designs for these products both for men and women. But they are not produced in the country in the required quantity and quality. As a result, the country spends precious foreign exchange resources for products which can be produced at home. This project idea is to promote the establishment of a plant which will produce under wears from knitted or woven cotton fabrics.
3. Market Potential: Of the 19.2 million people in the Amhara region, 2.2 million live in cities and towns. Again out of the 2.2 million, about 1.7 million are above 10 years of age. This portion of the urban population uses under wears. If we assume that each persons consumes at least 3 pairs of under wears per year, annual demand for under wears in the Region could be as high as 5.1 million pairs of under wears or 5.1 pieces of sweaters and 5.1 pieces of pants. Even in rural areas many people have started wearing under wears; and as time passes more and more rural people will wear under wears. This will increase the demand for under wears. One can safely state the demand for under wears is, at the “minimum” about 10 million pairs.
4. Source of Raw Material: Mostly under wears are made from cotton fabrics knitted or woven. Both types can be obtained from domestic sources.
5. Process and Technology: Making under wears is basically a cut, make and trim operation. Knitted or woven fabric is spread on tables and cut by means of automatic or manual scissors according to desired sizes. The cut pieces are then over locked and the under wears so obtained are labled, pressed and packed. Main machines needed for the plant include over lock machines, flat-lock machines, pressing tables, electric irons, stools, and scissors.
6. Estimated Investment:- For a small size plant, the required investment will be as follows.
§ Building/shade 100m2 at Birr 1500/m2……….=Birr 150,000
§ Machinery …………………………………= Birr 50,000
§ Working Capital …………………………= Birr 20,000
Total………………=Birr 220,000
7. Benefit: Saves foreign exchange and regional financial resources, promotes self-sufficiency, introduces new skills and technology, and stimulates the textile sector.
8. Location: Debre Birhan, Bahir Dar, Combolcha, Gondar.