It’s time for a revival of Kenya’s textile industry

What was once a proud pillar of industrial employment and export earnings has been reduced to a patchwork of struggling mills, idle ginneries, and farmers who abandoned cotton for survival crops.

The liberalization wave of the early 1990s opened Kenya’s market to global competition, but without the infrastructure or capacity to withstand it. Textile mills, unable to compete with cheap imports, shut their doors. By the early 2000s, most large-scale garment manufacturers had either collapsed or were operating at less than 10% capacity. The result was devastating. Factories that once produced millions of metres of fabric became ghost facilities dependent on government bailouts rather than production.

Cotton production plummeted from historic highs to below 10,000 MT annually, dismantling a once-integrated ecosystem of farmers, ginners, and processors. As mills fell silent, the collapse cascaded down the value chain, farmers lost markets, gins rusted away, and rural economies stagnated.

Three decades later, a window for renewal has opened. Kenya’s Cotton, Textile, and Apparel (CTA) Policy 2024 sets out a clear roadmap for revitalization, emphasizing value-chain integration, private-sector partnerships, and incentives for modernization.

Kenya currently imports about USD 2.2 billion worth of textiles annually, a paradox for a cotton-producing country. Local mills meet less than 45% of domestic fabric demand, representing a massive import-substitution opportunity. If the policy is executed with discipline and focus, even partial import replacement could save the country hundreds of millions in foreign exchange, while exports could triple to USD 2 billion by 2030, up from USD 628 million in 2024.

The multiplier effects are substantial. A thriving textile ecosystem can rejuvenate cotton farming across 24 counties, re-engage 200,000 farmers, and catalyze thousands of indirect jobs in logistics, transport, and retail. This is particularly crucial in a nation where 17.7% of the youth remain unemployed.

At a household level, a predictable cotton market revives rural incomes, while at a national scale, the textile revival strengthens Kenya’s manufacturing share of GDP, reduces trade deficits, and expands export diversification under trade frameworks like AGOA, AfCFTA, and EBA.

Global supply chains are undergoing realignment. Rising labour costs in Asia, sustainability pressures, and shifting trade dynamics are prompting major brands to diversify sourcing to Africa. Studies by Gherzi indicate that over 50% of Africa’s apparel demand is currently met through imports, a market valued at USD 74 billion in 2024, and projected to grow to USD 93 billion by 2030.

Kenya currently enjoys a 10% tariff advantage into the U.S. compared to Asian exporters such as Bangladesh or Vietnam, following the latest Trump tariff directives but also benefits from the one-year AGOA extension, a structural edge that, if coupled with vertically integrated capacity, grants Kenya the opportunity to position itself as East Africa’s textile and apparel hub.

If implemented with discipline, this initiative will not only re-industrialize Kenya’s textile sector but reposition the country as a continental model for sustainable industrialization,  combining agriculture, manufacturing, and exports in one circular ecosystem.

From Rivatex’s factory floors in Eldoret to new knitwear lines in Vipingo, the rebirth of Kenyan textiles is more than an industrial project; it is a social and economic renaissance.

It represents a shift from dependency to productivity, from importing to exporting, and from unemployment to empowerment.

The targets of 22,000 jobs, USD 514 million in annual output, USD 470 million in investment, and 2 billion USD in exports by 2030 are both bold and achievable.

With government as the enabler, and private enterprise as the driver,  the revival of Kenya’s textile industry is no longer a distant ambition. It is a transformation already in motion.