SPANISH FASHION IN
MOROCCO
7th International Seminar on Sustainable Technology
DevelopmentSustainable Clothing: Production and Consumption
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Global case of study
Mayo 2014
Mohammed Al-Taie
Olivia Maio
Uziel López
Yernar Yeleukenov
Spanish fashion in Morocco
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Diagnosis Methodology
3. Framework
3.1
Social actual situation
3.2
Economic actual situation
3.3
Legal actual situation
3.4
Technological actual situation
3.5
Environmental actual situation
4. Problem analysis
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
7. References
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
1. Introduction
Since Europe is considered to be the largest consumer of textiles and very fashionable. It would be
a very big issue for European clothing companies when it comes to manufacturing and production
of textiles and garments in the European countries, especially in the countries of Western Europe,
because of the high labor cost or rate, and the high taxes and many other restrictions in Western
Europe. So, to have a country with different level of living and with a different system and
regulations to invest in and make more profitable business. In other words, they needed a more
suitable (profitable) place to outsource their commodities. This is not as easy as it seems due to so
many issues that should be taken into consideration such as location, culture and language,
proficiency and etcetera; which have different effect on the entire process.
The term Offshoring or Outsourcing means using external resources or getting help from the
outside of the organization. There are many big companies who outsource their businesses, for
instance Mango, Inditex, and other clothing companies. They will choose location where labor is
very cheap, but the skill of human capita is relatively acceptable, and in order to outsource, they
need a partnership with outsourcing company to help them.
In this introduction, we are going to give more or less a brief description for the history, location
and relate these to the current situation of a country that has always been a target for outsourcing
for many textile manufacturing companies in Western Europe and the U.S. This country or nation
is Morocco.
Further historical, geographical, political and economic details are to be explained later on in this
report.
The living history of this magical kingdom, Morocco, is felt in every part of its cities. It has a unique
and rich culture which is a blend from its neighbors to the north Romans, Moors, Jews as well as
people from the east such as Arab's and Berbers. In another word, it is a multicultural country.
This fascinating history and culture can be found everywhere, in languages, faces and in places of
worship. But, in spite of all the deeply rooted culture and traditions, morocco has convoyed, and is
always up to date with modernity and innovation.
The location of Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar to Spain makes it a strategic gateway
between Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
All these diversities in Moroccan culture and its strategic location have helped Morocco establish
its trading opportunities with Europe throughout history.
According to the latest reports and documentaries, the country’s system works very well and the
country is moving forwards and advancing and for many, it becomes an excellent place to do
business.
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
Morocco of today and according to the Moroccan government is a land of opportunities for
investors, so they can use Morocco as an investment platform, but also as an export platform.
Morocco is the only country that has signed an agreement of free trade with both the US and
Europe and that is one reason of why it offers a very competitive base for manufacturing.
As it is mentioned above, Morocco forms the crossroad between Europe, Africa and the Middle
East but at the same time connected to the US. The largest share of foreign investment comes
from the European Union, especially from Spain and France because of their location proximity.
Moreover, Morocco’s banking sector is vibrant with a number of financial groups, providing a full
range of services to both, Moroccans and foreign investors. In other sectors, foreign countries are
playing a major role. And according to the Minister of Communication of Morocco” The
communications sector continues to develop rapidly and remains extremely open and receptive to
input and assistance from outside the country".
Going forward, and as Morocco built its biggest port in Africa in the city of Tangier (the ideal
trading gateway to Europe), it increased the speed of the investment flow into the country by
three times. The city of Tangier is the ideal trading gateway into Europe and morocco is making
the most of this geographic advantage by building its biggest port in Africa. This makes the speed
of investment flow into the country to increase by 3 times than before.
The facts that are mentioned above with many other reasons, among others, the good reputation
of the Moroccan textile industry and the sustainable technologies used make Morocco to have
many competitive advantages compared to other countries. And now, it is even believed that the
textile industries in Morocco is getting more and more challenging to beat the textile industries in
Asia.
2. Diagnosis methodology
The diagnosis methodology of the present work was made, since the very beginning, in a way that
all the members of the team can participate in every stage although each member was in charge
of one task and part of the paper. First of all we decided to divide the different task between the
members of the group so each one had the duty of investigate about the part that he or she
chose; after we divided the work, we decided to arrange weekly meeting to discuss and give
opinion about advances that we reached every week that helped us to improve every week a little
bit more our personal work with the different opinions and constructive critics. At the end we
decided to send to total information to put it together in just one paper and give it a structure.
About the sources and the way we found the information the scheme that we follow is the next:
-First we decided to make questions to ourselves about what we wanted to find, what kind of info
and where were the correct places to find it.
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
-Second we, after having a meeting and answer those guide question, we decide to collect the info
from papers and research works that we could fin through the web and in our respective
universities.
-The third step that we decides to take was to find these information and read do each member of
the team was able to find his or her own information but had also de duty to inform the others
members if he or she found interesting info about other’s member task.
-Fourth we decided to collect the information, put it together and make the conclusions including
all the opinions and points of view of each member until we reached a general idea about it.
3. Framework
3.1. Social situation of the textile industry
Representing 200,000 jobs in the country the textile sector represents a lot in matter of the actual
social situation. The major characteristics of these jobs are the following:
In Morocco the workday of workers should not exceed the 44 weekly hours or the 2,288 annual
hours. The total of working hours can be distributed in order the company’s needs with the only
exception of not passing 10 working hours per day.
In the textile sector the full-day contract is the most usual (44 weekly hours) and the working time
is distributed from Monday to Saturday. Although the contract says 44 hours per week most of the
workers work overtime.
3.2. Economic situation of textile industry
In Morocco the textile and confection industry is the most important industrial sector since it
represents a third of the country’s exports. In this industry, that is formed by 1,700 companies,
works 40 percent of the people in working age, generates the 66 percent of the female jobs in the
country and give jobs to a total of 200,000 persons.
Since 2006, in this sector of Morocco’s industry, Spain is the most important client since the total
volume of clothing exports reached the 950 million euros per year representing the 35 percent of
the total clothing exports.
The strong relationship between these sectors in both countries depends of how the flow of the
materials between the two countries works: Spain exports the tissue to Morocco while imports
the finished clothing made in Morocco. These flows of material between the countries are
represented by the interest of the most important Spanish fashion companies such as:
Inditex Group
El Corte Inglés
Cortefiel
Mango
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
These fashion companies select to work in the Moroccan market because can take advantage of
the close geographical situation and of the very low production costs that is based in that the
minimum salary for person/month is between 180 and 200 euros.
3.3. Legal situation of the textile industry
The actual legal situation that includes many old and new agreements with some countries around
the world has helped to expand the market of Morocco’s clothing industry. The following
agreements are the most important:
-Morocco’s Partnership Agreement with the European Union. From this was born the FTA with the
EU.
- Morocco’s Partnership Agreement with Turkey.
- Morocco’s Partnership Agreement with the United States of America.
Through these diverse agreements have been achieved many objectives like the progressive
reduction of the custom barriers.
Although all those efforts and actions to improve the actual situation of the sector in the country,
some others countries, especially from Asia, have been taking advantage of the end of the period
of transition about textiles and clothing regulated by the World Trade Organization that suppose
the disappearance of quotas for the Asian products.
3.4. Science and Technology Situation in the clothing industry
In Morocco the national system of scientific and
technical research is guided by different elements,
such the pronouncements of His Majesty the King,
reports of special commissions year plans, and the
creation of a special program for the support of
research (WHO 2004:25).
The Moroccan government’s Five Year Plan for 20002004 articulated the priority lines for research. The
declared objectives of this plan were to align S&T
research with socio-economic development priorities.
Sectors declared as priority areas were: agriculture,
health fisheries, drinking water, geology, mining,
energy,
environment
information
and
telecommunications technologies, and transport. This
approach highlighted the need for effective
institutional coordination, which enabled different
parties work together around common priority socio economic objectives (Kleiche, 2003:303).
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
Here we have a table in which are reported the ICT’s that summarize the level of information and
communication for Moroccan people:
Morocco is currently
in the process of
developing a national
R&D strategy for the
20 years as well as an
action plan for the
next
years.
A
fundamental aspect of
this future strategy is
the reinforcement of
the existing national
science system (Belcadi, 2006:4).
Figure 1 shows the breakdown of the total number of research staff (17 390) by scientific field in
2002-2003, and Table 6 shows the breakdown of the 10 069 researchers in the university sector by
faculty/school.
Morocco’s own evaluation of its national
research system – carried out in 2003 –
revealed that the country has a good supply
of well trained high quality human resources
and that some laboratories are of very high
quality. However, the greatest gap at that
point of time lied in the link between
research and innovation (Belcadi, 2006:13).
Since then, the Moroccan government has introduced a number of structures to bridge the gap
between universities and enterprises and to contribute to the country’s innovative capacity.
However, it appears that the private sector in Morocco is not a significant R&D performer, which is
a potential weakness in the system. As a result, industry may lack the capacity to absorb the R&D
results from universities and public sector research organizations and to translate it into
technological processes and products.
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
3.5. Environmental situation in the clothing industry
Morocco’s natural environment has historically suffered from the depletion of natural resources,
air and water pollution from obsolete industrial plants and uncontrolled sewage and waste
disposal. These issues will need to be reviewed in the context of individual project appraisal and in
line with EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy and Performance Requirements and will assist
Morocco in the process of alignment with international standards and compliance with
Millennium Development Goals. Morocco is a country was not a producer of energy resources
until now, relies on the outside world for substantially all its energy supply. This reliance amounts
to about 95% currently. Therefore, the diversification of the energy mix is a priority area of
intervention to reduce this reliance including through the development of local energy resources.
To meet the many challenges and handle the future of energy in order to ensure Morocco’s
sustainable development, a new energy strategy was developed on the basis of technological and
economic options as part of a long-term clear vision. It is reflected into concrete action plans and
achievable in the short, medium and long term, along with organizational and regulatory measures
aiming at providing the necessary visibility to the operators. The set strategic objectives aimed at
ensuring the security of energy supply, availability and accessibility of energy at the best cost and
to reduce energy dependence by diversifying energy sources, developing the national potential
energy, promoting energy efficiency in all economic and social activities.
In this sense, Morocco has an important potential in terms of renewable energies:





A large solar radiation (about 7,2 kWh/j/m2 in the South, 280 to 340 days per year)
A large wind resource: a potential of 6000 MW
A significant potential for mini hydraulic systems: more than 200 sites
A tank of 9 millions hectares of forest
A geothermal potential not yet explored.
Power and energy projects supporting Morocco’s sustainable energy strategy will improve
energy efficiency and increase market share of renewable energy projects. Clean Development
Mechanism projects in Morocco are well developed and opportunities for carbon finance will
be identified. Rural electrification and safe and affordable access to power will be an
important consideration in the development of projects in this sector. Morocco plans a $13
billion expansion of wind, solar and hydroelectric power generation capacity and associated
infrastructure that should see the country get 42% of its electricity from renewable sources by
2020. The Moroccan government is keen on increasing renewable energy production, as
Morocco's January–September oil bill reached about USD 1.4 billion in subsidies in 2009,
registering a fall of 57.9% compared to 2008.
About the clothing industry and how it affects the environment is important to say that the main
environmental problems that stem from the textile industry relates to emissions in the water and
air and the use of water and energy. Among these, water is the main concern: the textile industry
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
uses water as the primary means to remove impurities, apply colors and finishing agents, and to
generate steam. The main problem is, therefore, represented the amount of water discharged and
the chemical substances they contain. In the next graphic the evolution of the problem is shown:
4. Problem analysis
The clothing industry in Morocco is one of the most important parts of the country’s economy
because it generates many jobs to the people. Although is very important, the benefits of the
sector are not equally distributed. The workers’ living conditions are very precarious and the
promise of development based in an export-oriented industry to reduce the poverty seems very
remote.
In Morocco, the labor code was revised in 2004 and is considered among the most progressive in
the Arab world. However, its enforcement is rather challenging due to the lack of resources for
effective labor inspections. Freedom of association is a problematic issue in the apparel industry,
where unionization rates are around 3 % with largely male participation, not reflecting the
composition of the labor force. At best, there is widespread mistrust on the managers’ side
towards unionization efforts. In 2003, the Moroccan Textile and Garment Industry Association
(AMITH) issued unilaterally an industry code of conduct and a related label, Fibre Citoyenne (FC),
to be awarded to factories passing a social audit. The FC initiative garnered particular relevance in
2007, when Inditex pledged to source exclusivelyfrom FC-labeled factories as part of the
International Framework Agreement signed with the International Textile, Garment and Leather
Worker Federation (ITGLWF) (Pfeiffer 2007). While the FC has had considerable positive outcomes
for workers in terms of measurable standards (especially on OSH regulations, social security
registration and correct records of employment contracts and recruitment procedures), it still fails
to have a significant impact on enabling rights (Rossi 2010), in part due to its lack of a collective
bargaining clause. While the benefits brought about by the FC are available to regular workers,
they are largely off limits for irregular workers, who continue to operate under casual, temporary
contracts and often are paid below the minimum wage.
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
An important first step by buyers would be to align their core-business activities and sourcing
practices with their ethical statements as reflected in their CSR initiatives and codes of conducts.
Important areas in this regard are to reduce volatility and flexibility in supplier relationships and
orders and align contractual expectations with decent wages and working conditions (Plank/Staritz
2011). Another limitation of buyers’ codes of conducts is their often limited approach to social
upgrading focusing on measurable standards, monitoring labor and quick fixes to visible problems
without taking into account broader dimensions of social upgrading that perceive workers as social
actors with enabling rights (Rossi 2011). Further, it would be crucial that buyers abandon their
unilateral initiatives and engage with local stakeholders, including their suppliers and workers as
well as local trade unions, NGOs, labor inspections and other relevant public authorities. In
particular more cooperation with local regulatory agencies would be crucial to reduce multiple
standards and audits and to complement efforts.
In the context of asymmetric relationship between buyers and suppliers, supplier firms should try
to diversify their contractual relationships towards more buyers and markets to reduce
dependencies and increase options (Plank/Staritz 2011). Other end markets, including regional
and local markets, might exhibit better growth and upgrading potentials and allow for more
beneficial outcomes (Pickles/Smith 2010). Supplier firms should also be more proactive in initiating
economic and social upgrading processes. With regard to social upgrading, participation in
industry-wide codes or multi-stakeholder initiatives can help to increase the bargaining power of
suppliers vis-a-vis buyers with the objective to mitigate the tensions between sourcing and
compliance requirements (Rossi 2011).
Government policies play a crucial role for economic and social upgrading, in particular industrial,
trade, innovation, skill and labor market policies which would need to be aligned within a
comprehensive pro-active industrial development strategy. Such strategies should combine
economic and social dimensions of upgrading. In the context of cost competitiveness,
governments may be unable or unwilling to enforce labor rights and further social upgrading.
However, cost competitiveness is not the whole story, particularly for regional suppliers in Greater
Europe that are largely out-competed from a mere cost perspective by lower-cost suppliers in
other regions. The strategic location of regional suppliers needs to be complemented with
industrial policies to further competitiveness, economic upgrading and broader industrial
capabilities and skills, and align these strategies with social upgrading.
5. Discussion
In order to solve most of the problems of this country, is needed to summarize and analyze the
main weaknesses that could that can be turned into strengths on which to focus to build a new
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
arrangement of the territory, based on sustainability and technological innovation, in order to
create new business opportunities.
a) The textile industry: machinery for the textile industry
The textile industry is a major industry in Morocco and holds great importance not only in terms of
contribution to GDP, but also employment. The main axis is concentrated between Rabat and
Casablanca, while in Tangier there is a production area of semi-finished products, in particular for
the market Spanish.
The Moroccan institutions intend to the increase exports of textiles, especially owing to the
various free trade agreements in force with the EU, the United States and other countries. In
particular, the strategies Moroccan focus on three areas:
- The “fast fashion " and " Prêt-à- porter"
- Jeans and casual wear (with particular reference to European markets)
- Funds niche as the intimate, home textiles and footwear
The Morocco is a country of potential interest, because the Moroccan fleet is generally outdated,
and in recent years the country's institutions are encouraging the businesses to renew their
machinery.
b) The retail sector: sustainable luxury
The retail sector contributes approximately 11% of GDP and employs 12.8% of the workforce
Moroccan. In recent years there has been a strong development of the distribution system mainly
linked to the shops and to the franchise business.
The Moroccan government has worked out a development plan "Vision 2020 Rawaj" concerning
the medium and large distribution, the independent trade, commercial networks and the franchise
and the public markets. The program "Vision 2020 Rawaj" offers several financing mechanisms
and a development fund that between 2009 and 2012 has provided approximately 18 million
Euros.
Among the goals : an annual increase of 8% in the retail sector , the creation and development of
600 supermarkets and hypermarkets by 2020; the construction of 15 shopping centers with over
3000 stores , 15 outlets and discount stores. In December 2011 it was opened in Casablanca the
“Morocco Mall “shopping center, the fifth largest in the world that represents 600 International
brands.
c) Market of energy: wind
The renewable energy market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country for the near
future. By 2020, Morocco aims to bring to 42% the proportion of energy provided by to develop
renewable and 4 GW of electrical potential from wind and solar (50% each).
Through the wind power the Moroccan government is attracting many companies, especially
French and Spain, for the development of some “parks " , among which the largest wind farm in
Africa, opened in 2010 in Dhar Saadane , near Tangier . This project should develop approximately
€ 3 billion of investments. The French company, Theolia, has been awarded the contract for the
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
development of the energy park of Al- Koudia al- Baida, always in the area of Tangier. In 2012, the
consortium led by the French “EDF Energies Nouvelles " in partnership with Japan's Mitsui
obtained from the National Moroccan electricity (ONE ) , the contract for the development of
another wind project in Taza , for the production of 150 MW of electricity .
To the Companies that invest in renewable Moroccan authorities offer a number of incentives,
including some funds to support and obtainment of land with formulas and concessional facilities
bureaucratic.
d) Offshoring: The Information Technology sector
In recent years, the North African countries have gradually developed support services to
industrial activities with a focus on the ICT sector. Morocco is one of the countries where the
offshoring sector shows the greatest opportunities in terms of investment and incentives made
available by the institutions, both as regards the low labor costs, on average 35% lower than those
of the countries of the Mediterranean.
To stimulate the development of offshoring in Morocco was especially the development of the
port Tanger-Med. Subsequently, the country begun to attract a lot of investments in areas such as
information technology, software development and maintenance of the computer. The main poles
are Casablanca near Shore Park (Casanearshore) and Rabat Technopolis.
Between 2005 and 2008, for example, the sector has created about 20,000 jobs, and the goal is to
reach 100,000 by 2015.
e) Biofuels: Bioethanol
Morocco is seeking to develop the biofuel industry.
In the country there are already several international players, including the U.S. GeneSyst, present
in Casablanca with the company Greenberry for the construction by 2013 of a rig dedicated to the
transformation of organic waste into bioethanol for the city of Agadir. The project, a once
approved should lead to the production of 30 million liters of ethanol, for ride annual sales of
approximately 20 million Euros. The target market will be mainly to Spanish.
6. Conclusions
From our case study and all the references that we used to enhance our report with facts and
valuable information, we can say that Morocco currently on the right track and convoying the
development process in the developed countries.
History, geography and cultural diversity, adding to that society and politics with many other
factors have played a huge role in changing the countries tendencies and policy on the local and
international level. Government and society, that is to say, Moroccan people recognized that their
country is holding many great features and characteristics that can make it possible for them to
change their situation to, though it’s too early to judge, because such process usually take long
period of time, but since Morocco and according to our sources is considered one of the most
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
stable countries in the area of the Arab homeland then there one can see a light in the horizon,
that is to say, a hope.
Moroccan people as well as their government showed that they are more open to other cultures
and societies than many other countries and they learned from their mistakes. Nowadays, they
use their country’s golden chances to adapt many modern and cooperative policies, e.g. offering
amazing facilities and great deals and agreements in the industrial investment sector and on the
top of the list is the textile industry investment that we went through earlier in our report.
Furthermore, Morocco is trying its best through the textile industry sector by adopting new
technologies in their manufacturing processes in order to cope with the sustainability
requirements and to have more environmentally friendly products and clean working
environment.
By following such policy and being adaptable, Morocco is considered to be internationally
accessible, and at the same time having access to the whole world. This will give the country a
push towards economic and political refreshment. But as we said, it will take time.
Among all the countries that Morocco become accessible or open to, is Spain the most accessible
one. Due to the geographical position and their connected history between the two countries,
adding to that the cultural and language communication since people in some of the Moroccan
cities speak Spanish make Spain to have the most share and benefit of the development process in
Morocco; also is that Spain has many wonderful brands in the textile sector , and as Moroccans
are known for their professional textile work and design, the fashion in Morocco become affected
by Spain and Spanish designers and vice versa.
All in all, Morocco is on the way to thrive and it is just a matter of time. Go for it Morocco and
better late than never.
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Spanish fashion in Morocco
6. References
-European Bank, (2012). Country Assessment: Morocco. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at:
http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/country/technical_assessments/morocco-assess.pdf [Accessed
29 May. 2014].
- Boshoff, N. (n.d.). The Science and Technology System of the Kingdom of Morocco. 1st ed. [ebook]
Available at:
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/files/55536/11998897825Morocco.pdf/Morocco.pdf
[Accessed 29 May. 2014].
-African Development Bank Group, (2011). Summary of the environmental and social impact
assessment. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at:
http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Environmental-and-SocialAssessments/Ouerzazate%20ESIA%20ex%20sum%20version%20ENG%20Oct%202011%20(2).pdf
[Accessed 29 May. 2014].
-YouTube, (2014). Fast growing country Morocco (Full Documentary) 2014 HD. [online] Available
at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOHdT0lFs0w [Accessed 29 May. 2014].
-Pereira, P. (2014). Moroccan Culture: People, Clothing and Food in Morocco. [online] Buzzle.
Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/moroccan-culture-people-clothing-and-food-inmorocco.html [Accessed 29 May. 2014].
-Sales-i-Campos, A. and Piñeiro-Orge, E. (2011). Made in Morocco. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at:
http://www.vetementspropres.be/upload/files/MadeinMaroc_rapport_ENGL.pdf [Accessed 29
May. 2014].
-López-Macisidor Martínez, E. and Ucelay-Rodríguez Salmones, M. (2007). El sector textil y de
confcción en Marruecos. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at:
http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2383907 [Accessed 29 May. 2014].
- Instituto Valenciano de Exportaciones, (2006). Textil en Marruecos. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at:
http://www.negociomarruecos.com/doc/inversiones/textil_ivex_06.pdf [Accessed 29 May. 2014].
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