Chapter 10

‘Fabric-ating Fashion’: The Clothing Industries

Review• Concepts to Review– GPNs, export processing zones,

WTO, regionalization, role of consumers, centre—periphery divide, branding and identity

• Key Words– Clothing industry; sweatshop labour;

buyer-driven industries, fashion, multi-fibre arrangement

The Clothing Industries: Definition and Structure

• Basis of the industry• Satisfies a fundamental human need• Subject to complex social and cultural forces• Fashion change: stimulate demand for clothes

• Nature of the industry• Capital intensity low, labour intensity high, technology

unsophisticated• Labour costs are the most significant production factor

in the industry• Geographical proximity to key markets is vital

• Globalization of the industry

Politics of the Industry

• Labour Issues• Labour force: 80 per cent female, mostly

unskilled or semi-skilled, and young• In developed countries tend to be immigrants

andethnic minorities

• Have no protection

• Consumer and state relations• Consumer resistance• Regulation is difficult, due to fragmented,

transitory nature of the industry• Governments intervene in the industry

Tariffs and Trade• multi-fibre arrangement: define and

give history since 1973 • Aim: to create trade which would

benefit developed and developing world• Became more restrictive as time went

on• 1995 regulation of trade incorporated

into WTO – MFA phased out over a 10-year

period• End of MFA in 2005: what now?

Current and Ongoing Trends

• Technological developments

• Changes in type of firm

• Role of retailers

• Regionalization