Dean Ackin, the chief executive officer of large band Tribe, says he welcomes the call by Trade Minster Paula Gopee-Scoon for the development of this country’s production capacity.
“If the Ministry of Trade and Industry can encourage and develop our production capacity locally, that would be a welcomed development and more costumes will be produced locally by all bands including ours,” Ackin said.
The Tribe Family of Bands comprises Tribe, Bliss, Lost Tribe, Harts, Rogue and Pure.
Ackin defended his band’s decision to outsource the costumes and sought to address what he called a misconception that “China is equal to cheap”.
“With Chinese manufacturers, you get lower production costs when you produce by the thousands or tens of thousands of one specific item, which we do not do. Section sizes in Carnival bands range from 50 to 500 persons which means the number of items produced per section is relatively small for a Chinese manufacturer, and the benefits of bulk production are not gained,” Ackin said.
He explained his band did do some production locally.
“With sections consolidated, we actually already produce thousands of our costume pieces locally but also go to China for the excess capacity. Chinese manufacturers have the ability and capacity to produce the required volumes in a short space of time. So the more we can put programmes in place to increase local skills and capacity, the more costumes can and will be done locally,” he said.
Ackin said during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tribe began talks with the Ministry of Trade and Industry with the aim to increase Tribe’s local content.
He said his team “will support the policies if it will develop local talent, skills and ultimately content.”
