Mexico’s Guayabera Losing Ground To Asian Imports

For the last several years the Guayabera, or more commonly referred to as the Cuban Guayabera Shirt, has become a fashion trend in the United States. The shirts unique style design of front pockets, pleats and embroidered patterns has been the preferred attire for businessmen throughout Latin America. With the embargos placed on Cuba, Mexico has been the top producer of the Guayabera for the last half century.

Mexico was once the “go to” country for cheap labor, but today Mexican manufacturers are fighting exporters from Asian countries, where wages are much lower.  In recent years quite a number of Guayabera factories have closed.  Merida, Mexico in the Yucatan Penninsula, the capital of the guayabera industry, has been hit hard by Asian competitors, who have copied and sold the shirts to U.S. markets at cut rate prices.

Clothing exports from Mexico to the United States have been declining for the past ten years.
The sales of the Mexican Wedding Shirt, another name for the Guayabera, have fallen about 20 percent.  Lourdes Rodriguez, head of the clothing business chamber in Yucatan has said that “the arrival of guayaberas from Asian countries has lowered our production.”  Raul maglioni, a guayabera manufacturer said “We don’t have access to popular markets like Wal-Mart or Kmart. They demand prices we can’t afford. If they ask for five or six dollars, we can’t do it.”

The difficulty that Mexican Guayabera manufacturers have been experiencing is only a small reflection of Mexico’s dire export problem.  In the last few years China has overtaken Mexico as the top exporter to the United States.  The increased demand for the Cuban Guayabera Shirt by world markets and the increase in designer specialty shirts has only worsened this mexican industry.