Star Garments goes global with first overseas manufacturing facility in Togo with $ 15 m IFC funding

Star Garments Group yesterday announced its plan to build a large-scale apparel export manufacturing factory in Togo to boost the West African country’s textile and apparel capabilities, through a financing package that includes a $ 15 million loan by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

The move marks Star’s first manufacturing facility outside of Sri Lanka. This project aims to create thousands of jobs in Togo, putting Star on the global map as a multiple country-of-origin supplier. Star’s facility will also be the first large-scale apparel manufacturing facility in Togo.

Star will build a greenfield clothing factory in Togo in Plateforme Industrielle d’Adétikopé, an industrial park on the outskirts of Lomé, and provide around 4,520 direct and indirect jobs, especially for women, and contribute significantly to export-oriented value addition by 2030. Star’s cut-make-trim factory will be a part of Lomé’s high-value-added industrial chains in several agro-industrial sectors.

The $ 15 million by IFC will comprise $ 7.5 million from its own account and another $ 7.5 million loan supported by the International Development Association Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility. 

Star is a powerhouse in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry with over four decades of experience, backed by a team of over 9,000. Star is also widely regarded as a champion in sustainability, with eight of its factories LEED-certified including the first passive house factory building in the world. Star’s factory in Togo will also be built under LEED standards. The group is also the only group of apparel companies to be certified as carbon neutral across all its processes.

‘‘We are continuously looking at diversifying our manufacturing base and our upcoming facility in Togo will be a cost-competitive alternative to our valued customers and fuel our global growth in bringing some of the best world-class apparel manufacturing to the West African region,’ said Star Garments Group Managing Director A. Sukumaran.

West Africa’s textile and apparel sector holds significant growth potential, with the region having a large and young talent pool. There have been improvements recently that are favourable to the sector, such as building ports and establishing special economic zones. This project is an outcome of IFC’s Cotton-to-textiles Value Chain Study in West Africa, focused on developing manufacturing capabilities and building an integrated regional textiles value chain across multiple countries in West Africa. As of June 2024, IFC had an active investment portfolio of $ 131 million in Togo that supports agriculture, transport, logistics, access to finance, energy, digital, housing, and health.