A landmark agreement ensures the moral and social integrity of Moroccan wares, affording consumers a considered choice

KARIM TAZI Outgoing Chairman of the Association of Textiles and Clothing Industries (Amith)

titched into the inside of your sweater is a label with a bar code. With the help of a laser scanner, you can find the garment’s name, its style, size, length and even the washing enzymes. Today, each garment can be traced back to the individual textile mill that produced it. The care instructions, as usual, are on the back. If you live in Europe, the country of origin is likely to be Morocco.

Last August, Spanish-based Inditex signed a landmark agreement with Morocco’s Association of Textiles and Clothing Industry (Amith according to its French acronym) to market what is known as ‘Fibre Citoyenne’. Loosely translated as Citizens’ Weft, the quality seal guarantees that an item is not the by-product of unfair labor conditions. The label also covers safety standards, social security, child labor and environmental issues. It gives Moroccan garment-makers a competitive edge over less regulated markets like China.

“We’ve created the label of ‘Fibre Citoyenne’ because we’re convinced that it is critical for our industry to meet the established labor and social norms,” an Amith spokesperson in Casablanca said in August. Fashion houses in Europe and the U.S. have long come under fire for not offering fair conditions to workers in developing countries. A strong ethics policy can thus be marketed by firms like Inditex, a company with net profits of 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in 2006. As of this summer, Moroccan textile mills will have a year to meet the conditions laid out by Amith.

In the 1970s, Moroccan mills started to target European markets, setting the industry tone for decades. Stone-washed jeans were a Moroccan specialty. They sold at large retail chains like Auchan or Carrefour. But for industrialist Karim Tazi, Chairman of Amith until his mandate expired last July, the real test came in 2005 with what is known as the ‘multi-fiber agreement’. Faced with the globalization challenge, textile entrepreneurs switched their commercial strategy to focus solely on niche markets that require a permanent renewal of collections. Morocco, because of its geographic proximity to Europe, became the second-biggest supplier of garments for brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti and Bershka (all three being part of the Inditex group).

“Until now, Moroccan producers were directing their exports to France and to French-based distributors, " says Mr. Tazi. "With government support, Amith convinced them to open new markets in Spain and particularly the niche market known as ‘Fast Fashion invented by Inditex’, in which garments are designed, fabricated and delivered in real time and on demand, shop by shop and almost client by client. Moroccan producers seized on the fact that turnaround from China was unable to meet this kind of pace. Besides, Mr. Tazi argues that Moroccans are naturally attuned to European fashion. “We’re not in the field of haute couture. But we do make ready-to-wear for young Western women,” he says. Amith is now opening a second market for Moroccan clothing factories. This time, domestic entrepreneurs plan to buy American cotton and manufacture sweaters and T-shirts at home. After all, the U.S. and Morocco signed a landmark free trade agreement in 2004. And other suppliers of fiber threads, such as Pakistan or India, are too far away. “It’s completely feasible,” says Mr. Tazi. “Very soon, a delegation of Moroccan businessmen will go to the U.S. to study this new supply chain possibility.”