By Zambian Economist Analyst
Every chitenge, cap and branded T-shirt on the campaign trail is a transaction before it is a statement. With the election two weeks away on 13 August, campaign apparel and printing have become one of the more overlooked pockets of economic activity in this cycle, small individually, but real money, and worth asking a plain question about: who actually captures it?
What candidates actually spend on this
Campaign finance in Zambia is not centrally disclosed, so there is no official national total to cite. The most rigorous independent estimate available comes from a 2023 Westminster Foundation for Democracy study on the cost of politics in Zambia, based on candidate interviews from the 2021 cycle. It found that branded campaign materials, T-shirts, chitenges, caps and cloth, were candidates’ single largest campaign expense, averaging about K112,000 per candidate at the time, roughly half of total reported outlay. Poster printing added a further K25,000 on average. Those figures are five years old and will not map exactly onto 2026 costs or turnout, but the structural point, that apparel and print are where a large share of grassroots campaign money actually goes, has not changed.
This cycle already has a visible, dated example. In May 2026, an aspiring Lusaka mayoral candidate began offering limited-edition campaign T-shirts to supporters who contributed K500 to the campaign, a small but telling illustration of how branded merchandise now doubles as a fundraising instrument, not just a promotional one, as reported by the Zambian Observer.
Where the money actually goes
This is the part of the story that rarely gets told in full. Campaign merchandise spending splits across several distinct groups, and they do not benefit equally:
- Screen-printing and embroidery workshops. Local printers who produce T-shirts, chitenges and caps to order see a genuine, if seasonal, spike in business.
- Fabric and blank-garment suppliers. Someone has to supply the plain T-shirts, cloth and caps before they are branded, and a meaningful share of that blank stock, and of finished branded product, is imported rather than locally woven. A search of Chinese wholesale manufacturing platforms turns up dedicated product lines built specifically around Zambian elections, offering bulk-order Zambia election T-shirts and campaign chitenges with short lead times. That is a straightforward signal that part of the supply chain sits outside Zambia entirely, which caps how much of the spending actually stays in the domestic economy.
- Street and market vendors. Informal sellers who stock branded merchandise alongside their usual goods pick up genuine, low-margin income, a pattern also documented among Zimbabwean street vendors during election season, where scarves and memorabilia briefly outsell everyday stock.
- Transport and logistics. Moving printed material from workshop to rally to district requires vehicles, fuel and drivers, all paid for out of the same campaign budget.
The pattern that emerges is familiar from other campaign-season spending: printers and, separately, catering and transport vendors, covered in our companion piece on how Zambian businesses should plan for the election period, see a real but short-lived bump, while a portion of the underlying spend leaks out through imported inputs.
Why this is genuinely hard to measure
Three things make campaign merchandise a poor fit for official statistics. First, much of the activity sits in the informal sector, which ZamStats’ formal-sector indicators do not fully capture in real time. Second, campaign spending is not required to be publicly disclosed in Zambia in the detail that would let anyone build a bottom-up total, since the Political Parties Bill that would introduce spending caps and disclosure requirements has still not been enacted, per the WFD study cited above. Third, a single T-shirt order can straddle formal invoicing and informal cash payment within the same transaction, which is not something GDP accounting handles cleanly.
That is worth flagging plainly: any headline figure claiming to size the campaign merchandise economy in kwacha terms should be treated with real caution, because no one is actually counting it in full. What can be said with confidence is the shape of where the money goes, not a precise total.
What this means for small printers and traders
For a screen-printing business, campaign season is a genuine, if temporary, revenue event, not unlike the pre-Christmas trading spike retailers rely on. The businesses that benefit most are the ones with capacity to fulfil large, fast-turnaround orders in the final fortnight before polling day, since campaign print historically clusters late as candidates lock artwork and volunteer numbers firm up. The risk on the other side is normal seasonal risk: a workshop that scales up staff or stock for the campaign period needs a plan for the weeks immediately after 13 August, when that demand disappears entirely.
Common mistakes in how this gets discussed
- Treating campaign merchandise spend as pure stimulus. A share of it pays for imported blanks and finished goods, which does not circulate domestically the way spending on, say, a locally grown maize crop does.
- Assuming it is evenly distributed. Larger, better-funded campaigns concentrate orders with a smaller number of larger printers; small independent candidates’ spending is closer to the WFD study’s lower-end figures.
- Extrapolating a national total from one candidate’s spending. With hundreds of candidates contesting parliamentary and local government seats alongside the presidency, individual averages cannot simply be multiplied without knowing how many are actually funded at that level, and most are not.
Whether campaign-period informal trade shows up at all in ZamStats’ next wholesale and retail trade figures, and how quickly print and apparel demand normalises after 13 August. See our 2026 economic calendar for the release dates that will show it. On the crowd side of campaign spending, see why rally size doesn’t reliably predict election results.
How much do Zambian candidates spend on campaign merchandise?
The most recent independent estimate, from a 2023 Westminster Foundation for Democracy study based on the 2021 election cycle, put average spending on branded materials such as T-shirts, chitenges and caps at about K112,000 per candidate, roughly half of total reported campaign outlay at the time.
Is there an official total for campaign merchandise spending in Zambia?
No. Zambia has no enacted campaign finance disclosure law, and much of the spending sits in the informal economy, so no government body publishes a comprehensive figure.
Who benefits most from campaign merchandise spending?
Local screen-printing and embroidery workshops with capacity for large, fast-turnaround orders, along with informal street and market vendors who stock branded items alongside their usual goods.
Does campaign merchandise spending stay in the Zambian economy?
Only partly. A portion of blank garments and finished branded merchandise is imported, particularly from Chinese wholesale manufacturers who supply dedicated Zambia-election product lines, which limits how much of the spend circulates domestically.
What happens to demand after the election?
It typically falls away sharply. Printers and vendors who scale up for the campaign period generally plan for a demand cliff once polling day, 13 August 2026, has passed.
Is campaign merchandise spending regulated in Zambia?
Not currently. Constitutional provisions for campaign spending caps and disclosure exist on paper but have not been implemented through enabling legislation.
