Malindi Textiles and Fashion Incubation Centre

Malindi Textiles and Fashion Incubation Centre
Project
Status	proposed
Theme	Industry
Pillar	Economic Development
Counties	Kilifi
Lead organisation	Pwani 2050
Funding source	Not yet identified

The Malindi Textiles and Fashion Incubation Centre is a project within the Industry theme. It is a proposal from the Pwani 2050 plan to "invite the world to design and innovate in Kenya" through a revitalised, up-skilled textiles and fashion industry, so that Kenya becomes a net exporter of clothing rather than a net importer of second-hand clothes (mitumba), with a large, well-equipped fashion incubation centre in Malindi in Kilifi County that blends cultures and builds on the area's past manufacturing. It is a concept only, with no site, budget or sponsor. Kenya already exports large volumes of clothing, mostly from export processing zones near Nairobi and Mombasa, while mitumba imports keep rising; the industry's dependence on the American AGOA trade preferences, now legislated only to the end of 2026, is its main risk.

What it is

The proposal has two parts: a national ambition to rebuild a modern textile and fashion industry, and a physical centre in Malindi where designers, makers and small firms would be incubated, with equipment and training, and where Kenyan and international designers could work together. The plan's reference to past manufacturing points to the coast's cotton history: a draft national policy records that "in 1907, cotton ginneries became commonplace in Malindi, Kilindini, and Kisumu", and that cotton growing later spread to Malindi, Kilifi, Taveta and Lamu. The Swahili kikoi, a woven cotton cloth, is part of the coast's textile heritage.

Kenya's textile industry today

Kenya's textile mills grew rapidly after independence; by 1986 there were 52 mills employing 42,000 people, about 30 per cent of manufacturing employment. The industry then collapsed under structural adjustment, liberalisation and cheap imports of used clothing, and most ginneries and mills closed. Today only three integrated textile mills operate, Rivatex, Thika Cloth Mills and Supra Textiles, running at about 48 per cent of capacity.

Garment exports, by contrast, are substantial. Kenya's apparel exports to the United States were worth US$534.6 million in 2022 and US$471.2 million in 2023, and the garment sector provided 58,002 jobs in export processing zones in 2023. In 2025 apparel exports to the US were worth KSh 58.1 billion and AGOA-linked employment reached 82,026, while Kenya imported 250,527 tonnes of second-hand clothing worth KSh 30.3 billion. Kilifi County has 20 gazetted export processing zones, second only to Mombasa, and a branch of a Mombasa apparel exporter already operates at Mtwapa.

Models

Lagos Fashion Week, founded in 2011, runs the Fashion Focus Fund, a year-long incubator for emerging Nigerian designers whose alumni include internationally known labels; it is the closest model to a designer-led incubator. Ethiopia's Hawassa Industrial Park, a government-built garment park opened in 2016, shows the export-factory model at scale: it employed over 35,000 at its peak, then lost orders and jobs after the United States removed Ethiopia from AGOA in January 2022.

Rationale

The plan's case is that Kenya buys far more clothing than it designs and makes, and that a creative and manufacturing hub could capture more of that value and create jobs. The national government shares the aim in part: the draft cotton, textile and apparel policy calls cotton "a priority value chain" under its economic agenda and plans fabric value-addition centres, common-user tailoring facilities and training in fashion and design. A centre focused on design, rather than only on cut-and-sew assembly for export, would address the part of the chain where Kenya is weakest.

Status and timeline

The centre exists only as a proposal in the Pwani 2050 plan. National textile investment is going elsewhere: the draft policy's planned value-addition centres are in Nyando and Kieni, and the zones it lists as targeting textiles are at Eldoret, Dongo Kundu and a private eco-park in Kilifi. The county aggregation and industrial park being built at Sabaki, just north of Malindi, was 11.6 per cent complete in March 2026 and lists cassava, fruit, cashew nuts, leather and watermelon as its value chains, not textiles.

The US AGOA programme, on which Kenya's apparel exports depend, lapsed on 30 September 2025 and was reauthorised on 3 February 2026 only until 31 December 2026, while the US trade representative reviews its "modernization" towards more reciprocal arrangements.

How the project would be procured

There is no Terms of Reference, feasibility study or budget. A centre could be built by the county, by the Export Processing Zones Authority, which has developed a textile hub of cluster buildings and small-business units elsewhere, or by private and donor partners.

Who is involved

The proposal comes from the Pwani 2050 plan. The State Department for Industry leads national textile policy, the Export Processing Zones Authority regulates the export zones, and the County Government of Kilifi would host the centre.

• Export Processing Zones Authority
• State Department for Industry

Concerns and counterpoints

No one has commented in public on this proposal. The points below are the main critiques of the textile and apparel strategy it builds on, given as general context.

Dependence on AGOA

The Export Processing Zones Authority lists the delay in renewing AGOA as a source of "anxiety among the investors in apparel sector". Ethiopia's experience at Hawassa shows how quickly an apparel park can lose its market if trade preferences are withdrawn. An incubator focused on design and on regional and domestic markets would be less exposed than export assembly.

The mitumba trade

Second-hand clothing is a large trade that supports many traders, and attempts to restrict it have been costly. When East African states planned to phase out used-clothing imports in 2016, Kenya reversed its tariff rise and committed not to ban used clothing to avoid a US review of its AGOA eligibility; Rwanda did not, and the US suspended its duty-free apparel access. Mitumba imports have kept rising since. Becoming a net clothing exporter would depend on competing on price and quality rather than on restricting imports.

Wages and supply

The draft national policy lists the sector's social risks, including excessive working time, forced labour and an average wage below the minimum wage. Kenya grows little cotton, and its few mills run at half capacity, so the export factories rely mainly on imported fabric.

Location

Export garment employment is concentrated at Athi River and Mombasa, where the authority says firms perform best, and national textile spending is going to other sites. Malindi has heritage, tourism and an international community, which suit a design-led centre, but it is far from the main factories, ports and fabric suppliers.

Sources

• Draft National Cotton, Textile and Apparel Policy, 2024, State Department for Industry.
• EPZ Annual Performance Report 2023, Export Processing Zones Authority.
• Economic Survey 2026, KNBS (35 MB, linked rather than uploaded).
• AGOA modernisation notice, USTR, 2026.