According to a new article from Business of Fashion, Cuba now has its own entirely homegrown fashion industry.
Thanks to free-market reforms passed in 2008, hundreds of designers have emerged, all of whom are using natural fabrics to produce everything from wedding gowns to swimsuits in-country, providing an alternative to cheap illegal imports and the overpriced, shoddy offerings of state-run stores.
Unlike other new private businesses, the artisanal fashion industry is receiving a warm welcome from the communist bureaucracy, likely because it doesn’t rival the small remains of state-run clothing companies which mostly disappeared in the 1990s.
While the designs are out of reach for Cubans on state salaries of about $30 a month, they are obtainable to private-sector workers and those with help from family overseas. The burgeoning fashion community is also banking on new tourism. As one designer put it, “I don’t think anyone comes to Cuba to buy imported clothing.”
You can read more about Cuba’s new homegrown fashion industry at Business of Fashion.
