Irish clothing manufacturers have defended quotas on textile goods from China, adding that many goods being made in the Far East were being passed off as Irish.
Ibec has backed their call for more transparent labelling of the country of origin on clothes, particularly with regard to clothes that are apparently Irish.
Under EU legislation, clothing manufacturers and importers are not required to label items with a country of origin. Some member states, however, unilaterally require that they do so.
In Dublin city centre yesterday, shops which trade on the Irishness of their stock were selling knitwear that was traditionally Irish in design, feel and appearance, but which had no country of origin label. Among them were 100 per cent wool "Donegal fisherman" sweaters on sale in Blarney Woollen Mills for €39.90, though with no country of origin information.
Alongside them were Blarney Woollen Mills own-brand Aran-knit sweaters, in 100 per cent merino wool for €45, with a clear "Made in Ireland" label.
In the nearby Kilkenny shop, while much of the textile stock was labelled "Made in Ireland", some items, such as the Claire Kennedy collection from the Carraig Donn firm, were not labelled with a country of origin.
A spokeswoman for Kilkenny said that Irish-made products were sourced "wherever possible".
"I think it is disappointing for everyone when they have to go outside Ireland for product, but Kilkenny promotes Irish goods very strongly and the majority of its goods are Irish."
No-one from Blarney Woollen Mills was available for comment yesterday.
Indigenous producers, such as Beibhinn Martin, director of Beacon Designs Knitwear in Baltimore, Co Cork, say manufacturers selling a product as Irish but not making their product here are "misleading the customer".
Ms Martin said: "I have no problem with Chinese clothing imports, though I do think some quota system should be there if European manufacturers are to survive. And I have no problem with Irish designers outsourcing the manufacture of their clothes to China, but when they don't make that clear on their garments, well it's just not a level playing field. It's misleading the customer."
Eamon Bonner, director of knitwear manufacturers C Bonner and Son in Ardara, Co Donegal, said it was "crazy" that companies could imply their goods were Irish, when in fact they had been made in such places as the Far East, north Africa or eastern Europe.
Though Irish companies such as Fisherman Out of Ireland and Carraig Donn do make some of their garments and design all of their items here, some of their products are made up in China.
A spokesman for Carraig Donn said there was no requirement on them to label the country of origin, but stressed all design and raw materials were Irish.
"The fact that some of our product is made in China consolidates our operation and ensures that we can continue to employ between 300 and 400 people here."
The company, he added, ran a "thriving" knitwear factory in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
Ibec's Ciarán Fitzgerald said: "In a situation where a product looks and feels Irish, and would appear to be Irish, but the label doesn't make clear it's been made up somewhere else, well that's not transparent."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Enterprise said there was no plan to require clothing manufacturers to state clearly where their products are made.
