The others manufacture under license for the local market and make a variety of other Lee Cooper clothing. Drive through as the security guard opens the barred metal gate and there is no sign of activity. Just smooth, white walls and an air of calm. And each functions like an automaton, pulling a garment from a trolley by her side, throwing it on to her sewing machine, roaring down the seam at full throttle, ripping it off, throwing it back. Over and over.
Bonuses depend on it.
There are no safety guards on the machines and the women concentrate hard, keeping their fingers from the pounding needles. If they slip up, they can visit the factory nurse. Comfortably above the legal minimum of 47p per hour before tax, but well below the Tunisian garment industry average of 92p per hour, according to a study published a few years ago. Eight lines, each of more than 60 people, each producing 2,000 garments a day. More than three tasks per worker, per minute, on average.