Local textile manufacturers were not given an opportunity to participate in the GEL 45 million state procurement project for school uniforms, according to Unistyle founder Natia Chkheidze. Speaking on BMGTV, she said most Georgian producers had no prior information about the procurement and later learned that the uniforms would be produced in China.
Chkheidze said involving local manufacturers could have created new production capacity, jobs and additional economic activity in Georgia. She argued that the order could have been divided among several companies according to their capabilities, potentially enabling local producers to manufacture more than 1.8 million items.
According to Chkheidze, keeping the GEL 45 million in local production could have returned around 35% of the funds to the Georgian economy, while also encouraging investment in textile manufacturing and creating several thousand jobs. She said a consortium of manufacturers or dividing the procurement into separate lots could have made this possible.
Chkheidze acknowledged that locally produced uniforms might have cost GEL 10-15 more, but said this difference should be considered against the broader economic benefits. She also stressed that uniform quality should be assessed based on fabric composition, durability, safety and compliance with international standards, adding that a final assessment requires laboratory testing.
