Gopee-Scoon: Local content policy needed for Carnival costumes

Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon says she will be advocating for the inclusion of local content in the manufacture and production of Carnival costumes. She said TT had the capacity to produce Carnival costumes, although some components would still have to be imported.

Gopee-Scoon made the announcement while addressing a group who had come to learn the Lutterloh dressmaking patternmaking method at the Jimmy Aboud store on Henry Street, Port of Spain on Wednesday. She said she would be speaking to Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell on the matter.

She said during Carnival, there had been an issue where large bands had not been able to source the volumes of costume pieces needed which they had ordered from China and Pakistan.

“It was a very last-minute rush in many camps and houses where people were sewing up to the Sunday night. We can’t let that happen again.

"We didn’t have faith in ourselves to develop the local industry. We must think of developing a local content policy for Carnival so we can do much more of what is done in China in Trinidad. I understand that people went to Pakistan as well to make costumes.

“We have the skills here and where we’re lacking, we need to develop it to ensure we can really expand the industry in TT. So a local content policy is absolutely needed for the manufacturing of Carnival costumes, and this is where a number of you can fit in.”

Over 600 people turned up to take the one-hour course, which was offered 13 times over three days. Gopee-Scoon said the fact that there was this number of people interested in patternmaking and the garment business meant TT had the capacity to sew much of what was imported into the country for Carnival.

Gopee-Scoon said her understanding was that bandleaders went to China for production as it was cheaper in terms of cost for the volumes being ordered.

“We seriously have to look at a local content policy, getting people more involved and ensuring we can export what we produce here in TT in terms of Carnival. Carnival is more than merriment, it’s a business, and it’s about manufacturing of costumes and we want to be able to do more of that here. All of the incentives that apply to the manufacturing industry apply to the manufacturing of Carnival costumes as well.”

She said some bandleaders had applied for a manufacturers’ licence, but not enough of them.

“This is why we need a policy position and perhaps some more incentives to ensure we have the costumes crafted here. I’m not saying we have all the inputs, so some of the beads and feathers we’d have to import, but we really have to go back and look at what can be produced in TT.

"We’ve got to treat it like a business, and the Tourism Minister wears that head as well, so I think we can come up with something together with him. But it’s about attracting the business back to Trinidad, and it’s about creating employment as well, and we’re always serious about that.”

She said she would also be calling for an audit of the fashion production facility at the UTT campus on Wrightson Road, formerly the John Donaldson Institute.

“I’m not too happy with the progress we’ve made. It’s a state-of-art facility where we have a lot of equipment.

"This (Lutterloh method) is rudimentary and can be done in a matter of minutes, but there, we have machines where we can print fabric and so on. But they have not been coming up to volumes and turning out the capacity we are looking for.

“If we’re talking about local content, we need to have the capacity to produce through many means. I want to ensure we have the capacity to produce garments on a large scale.

"We will have to look at going a bit lower down the value chain. Yes, there are designers being trained at UTT and the production facility, but you can't do it without proper sewists – people who are skilled in sewing – and being able to produce at that level. We need people who can manage the equipment, etc.”

Gopee-Scoon said the people who turned up for the course could also think of themselves as part of the value chain of the sewing and fashion industries.