Techniques of production, efficiency and profitability in the Sierra Leone clothing industry

This study, based on a 1974-75 survey of 132 tailoring firms in Sierra Leone, seeks to fill that need. Following an overview of the Sierra Leone clothing industry, data from five representative firms are synthesized. The major production techniques used by the firms are identified and the technical and economic efficiency of these techniques compared. Next, the circumstances under which tailoring equipment should be purchased or rented are assessed. A final section summarizes the findings and examines their implications for policy formation and project design. The author concludes that small firms that use cheap equipment and produce diversified products and services are both efficient and profitable, and that the greatest constraint on profits among machine-renting firms is uncertainty about equipment availability during times of peak work loads.