Fiscal Aspects of the Fashion Industry: The Big Four Global Capitals and the Nigerian Equivalent

Fashion as a process in which individuals, institution or society interpret underlying social values using available technology to create specific physical or non-physical forms. Globally, the fashion industry is estimated at about $1.2 trillion. A fashion capital is such society with lots of impact on the fashion industry. There are four main global fashion capitals: New York, Paris, Milan and London. New York has the largest retail sales in the United States with more than $15 billion annual sales. Paris arguably remains the fashion capital of the world since it houses the two global largest luxury and fashion groups, kering and Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. The fashion industry in Milan has about 6000 active enterprises catering for about 37,500 employees. The value chain generated by it accounts for one fifth of the entire Milanese wealth and fashion-related manufacturing accounted for 15% of the whole manufacturing in Milan in 2013. The fashion industry in the UK was worth approximately ￡21 billion in 2012. In Nigeria however, the fashion industry is still in infancy and without proper market structures. Currently, the aggregate of productions and retails is worth about N 2 Trillion. Entrants into the industry are overcoming the lack of structure by creating their own business formation within the corporate context of the Nigerian trade scene. Consequently, there was a 29% increase in the contribution of textile, apparel and footwear production to the GDP in Q1 2014 over Q1 2013. This report concluded the big four fashion capitals which have had longer historical presence and enjoy stable structures for their fashion industries to thrive. The Nigerian fashion industry however is emerging with huge prospects for growth especially in its luxury subsection. Nigeria needs to pay attention to provision of retail structures and includes its fashion industry in government policy legislation for sustained growth and