from Eval Asikong.com (
evalasikong.com)
Messori of Italy partners Calabar Garment Factory for world-class designs
A front-line Italian designer, Messori Fashion and Design, has agreed to partner the Calabar Garment and Textile factory to produce top of the range designer wears.
The garment factory is billed for commissioning next month.
Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Gianmarco Messori said his team was ready to add Italian touch to products from the factory in order to turn it into a leading exporter of fashion and garments.
Messori disclosed this to newsmen shortly after being conducted round the factory situated along Goodluck Jonathan Byepass, Calabar by the Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade.
“I am the owner of Messori, an Italian fashion company since 1976. My parents established the company and I am of the second generation. So we will like to give Italian touch to the wonderful project. I am proud to be the Italian blood of this company,” he stated.
Messori also revealed that his outfit “will try to teach the Italian fashion here by doing everything in the world of fashion and design because Nigeria is strong and powerful in producing fabrics and we have the heritage to rebuild it while producing everything here.”
On what informed the partnership, Gover Ayade explained that”Messori is my collection. It is a world class quality suite maker in terms of fabric, design, stitching, longevity, elegance and style. And so we thought that Cross River State would benefit from the training that will come from Italy.”
The governor maintained that even though there was an ongoing partnership with the British government to support in financing the training of those who will work at the factory, the additional pact with Messori will give the Calabar Garment factory a big boost.
“We are not trying to produce what is traditional and typical of Africa, we are looking forward to producing and shipping like the people of Bangladesh, China and India,” Ayade explained.
On the proposed brand name for the factory products, the governor pointed out that the name was yet to be conceived as it would require government to sit down and proffer a label name, stressing that if the state must go for Messori as a brand name, there are more high-end equipment that would be expected in order to meet the Messori brand.
In his words, “For us to tap into that, we need to start small. So, I think they will be reluctant for us to use Messori as the name for now. However, they will still be core investors and technical partners while we will have to stay with our African name which we will definitely come up with soon.”
Ayade added that the factory will focus on a market where the cost element is low with high turnover, adding that blending the products with the best components in design and label becomes critical as under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), everything produced in Calabar will find market in America.
He hinted that prior to the final commissioning, samples of army, the police, customs, immigration, prisons, Civil Defence, NYSC, school uniforms and bed sheets, among others, will be produced and displayed.