Pastor calls for promotion of Ghanaian products
He said until that was done, successive governments would not be able to expand the country’s economy and create jobs for the youth passing out of the universities and other institutions of higher learning.
Reverend Antwi-Boasiako told the Daily Graphic at the Freby Fashion shop at West Legon. The shop specialises in the design, sewing and sale of African wear, particularly for kids, for both the local and international markets.
He said the notion that any foreign product was good while local products were inferior was not helping the growth of the country’s industrial development.
“How can we develop our economy when we develop a taste for foreign products and in so doing create jobs for people in other countries?” he questioned.
Rev. Antwi-Boasiako said the introduction of Friday wear had gone a long way to promote the local fashion industry and called for more of such conscious measures to promote made-in-Ghana products.
He expressed concern about what he called the naked copying of foreign fashion by the youth, which sometimes exposed their private parts.
Rev. Antwi-Boasiako, therefore, advised parents to encourage their children to wear Ghanaian-apparels in order to minimise the dumping of second-hand foreign clothes into the country.
He commended owners of the shop for the establishment of such a facility to offer parents a place to purchase Ghana-made clothes for their kids.
The Proprietor of Freby Fashion, Mr Frederick Mireku, said he decided to establish the shop because he was always finding it difficult to get specially-designed Ghana-made clothes for his kids.
“I encouraged my wife, who is a trained banker and works with an insurance company but is also a fashion designer, to use her spare time to design kids wear for sale to fill the gap created in the Ghanaian fashion industry,” he said
Mr Mireku said even through there were a lot of fashion designers in the country, most of them had specialised in clothes meant for adults and disclosed that he had already begun exploring the international market, adding that the prospects were bright.
By Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah/Daily Graphic/Ghana