IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ctwqxx/v45y2024i17-18p2373-2390.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Made in Kyrgyzstan is gold!’ the rise of the informal Kyrgyzstani apparel industry

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Eggart

Abstract

The Kyrgyzstani apparel industry has seen spectacular growth in recent years, despite informal structures, a predatory business environment, and intersecting crises. Contrary to other apparel producers in the Global South, ‘Made in Kyrgyzstan’ (MiK) has emerged from below and independently of multinational corporations or state-funded development initiatives. This article takes an ethnographic approach to examine how apparel producers navigate the challenging national and geopolitical environment in which their businesses are embedded. It does so based on long-term fieldwork, conducted before (2019), during (2020, online), and after (2021) the pandemic at the Dordoi Bazaar in Bishkek, the main distribution platform for locally produced apparel. Based on the ethnographic material, this article questions the meaningfulness of an informality framework in the corrupt context of the Kyrgyzstani state, and instead shifts the focus on attempts to build durable businesses that are capable of dealing with local and global constraints. Doing so, it makes two related points. Firstly, it traces the unique nature of post-Soviet economic transformation in Kyrgyzstan through the peculiar growth of the informal apparel industry. Secondly, it emphasises the relevance of endemic state corruption when studying informal economic practices on the ground.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Eggart, 2024. "‘Made in Kyrgyzstan is gold!’ the rise of the informal Kyrgyzstani apparel industry," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(17-18), pages 2373-2390, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:45:y:2024:i:17-18:p:2373-2390
    DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2023.2254242
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01436597.2023.2254242
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/01436597.2023.2254242?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:45:y:2024:i:17-18:p:2373-2390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/ctwq .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.