Fashion designers as lead firms from below: Creative economy, state capitalism and internationalization in Lagos and Nairobi

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fashion designers as lead firms from below: Creative economy, state capitalism and internationalization in Lagos and Nairobi

AU - Ikpe, Eka

AU - England, Lauren

AU - Comunian, Roberta

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful to all partners of the African Fashion Futures project and to the King’s Together Research Fund for supporting this work. We are grateful to all survey respondents, interviewees and forum participants that took their valuable time to interact with and provide us with material and critical insights for our research. We are grateful to participants at the Royal Geographical Society Conference 2021 and Global Conference on Economic Geography that provided valuable feedback to earlier versions of this paper. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - African fashion reveals intersections between upgrading, manufacturing and internationalization alongside expanding cultural, political and social influence. Yet global value chain analyses of the industry reinforce a core-periphery dynamic with the location of lead firms in the Global North (GN) and actors lower down the value chain in the Global South (GS). This disappears GS actors in the creative economy, including fashion designers, who innovate, design and cultivate the brand followership associated with lead firms. This paper analyzes fashion designers in Lagos and Nairobi as economic, cultural and social value creators and therein lead firms from below (LFfB). It conceptualizes this dynamic, with a focus on lead firms within the global value chain framework that combines elements of conceptual interventions on state capitalism to offer the LFfB framework. The framework is deployed to analyse primary data from fashion design firms in two key hubs, Lagos and Nairobi. Findings demonstrate the significance of synergies between key areas of LFfB operation (research and development, inputs, distribution, sales and product design) and state capitalism’s support for production, trade and finance, as well as positive returns through international cultural recognition and national profile building. Nevertheless, the paper contends that challenges of state (in)action can undermine sustainable practices, competitiveness as well as multi-scalar internationalization.

AB - African fashion reveals intersections between upgrading, manufacturing and internationalization alongside expanding cultural, political and social influence. Yet global value chain analyses of the industry reinforce a core-periphery dynamic with the location of lead firms in the Global North (GN) and actors lower down the value chain in the Global South (GS). This disappears GS actors in the creative economy, including fashion designers, who innovate, design and cultivate the brand followership associated with lead firms. This paper analyzes fashion designers in Lagos and Nairobi as economic, cultural and social value creators and therein lead firms from below (LFfB). It conceptualizes this dynamic, with a focus on lead firms within the global value chain framework that combines elements of conceptual interventions on state capitalism to offer the LFfB framework. The framework is deployed to analyse primary data from fashion design firms in two key hubs, Lagos and Nairobi. Findings demonstrate the significance of synergies between key areas of LFfB operation (research and development, inputs, distribution, sales and product design) and state capitalism’s support for production, trade and finance, as well as positive returns through international cultural recognition and national profile building. Nevertheless, the paper contends that challenges of state (in)action can undermine sustainable practices, competitiveness as well as multi-scalar internationalization.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184175484&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/10245294231222658

DO - 10.1177/10245294231222658

M3 - Article

SN - 1024-5294

JO - COMPETITION AND CHANGE

JF - COMPETITION AND CHANGE

ER -