The Textile Progress monograph series provides a critical and comprehensive examination of the origination and application of developments in the textile industry and its products. This issue assesses the main factors affecting the textile and apparel industry in underdeveloped nations, including Sub-barriers, industrial and trade policies, infrastructure, buying power, financial capital, managerial skills and the impact of Multinationals on socio-economic stability.
An in-depth look at the critical question of the role of international trade rules and capacity building initiatives in the growth of textiles and clothing in developing countries. It looks into several aspects that could explain the differential export performance of the textiles and clothing industry in several developing countries.
The only comprehensive historical analysis of the globalization of the U.S. apparel industry, this book focuses on the reemergence of sweatshops in the United States and the growth of new ones abroad. Ellen Israel Rosen, who has spent more than a decade investigating the problems of America's domestic apparel workers, now probes the shifts in trade policy and global economics that have spawned momentous changes in the international apparel and textile trade. Making Sweatshops asks whether the process of globalization can be promoted in ways that blend industrialization and economic development in both poor and rich countries with concerns for social and economic justice—especially for the women who toil in the industry's low-wage sites around the world. Rosen looks closely at the role trade policy has played in globalization in this industry. She traces the history of current policies toward the textile and apparel trade to cold war politics and the reconstruction of the Pacific Rim economies after World War II. Her narrative takes us through the rise of protectionism and the subsequent dismantling of trade protection during the Reagan era to the passage of NAFTA and the continued push for trade accords through the WTO. Going beyond purely economic factors, this valuable study elaborates the full historical and political context in which the globalization of textiles and apparel has taken place. Rosen takes a critical look at the promises of prosperity, both in the U.S. and in developing countries, made by advocates for the global expansion of these industries. She offers evidence to suggest that this process may inevitably create new and more extreme forms of poverty.
"Making Sweatshops reveals the inexorable movement towards an open trading system, the shifting alignments of actors pushing for or opposing openness, and, most centrally, how trade policy promotes the globalization of apparel production, filling a gap in our understanding of these dynamics."—Richard P. Appelbaum, coauthor of Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los Angeles Apparel Industry "A detailed examination of the role that trade policy plays in the process of globalization. Rosen provides a meticulous historical analysis of the textile/apparel industry, one of the world's most globalized industries and one of its most hot-button issues."—Stephen Cullenberg, coauthor of Transition and Development in India "Rosen shows how politics have always shaped the trade agenda from beginning to end, and she presents a most compelling case that if trade and the global economy are to foster justice and equality for the people of our world, we will need to rewrite the existing rules of global trade."—Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee "This book delves deep into the industry's trade journals, congressional testimony, newspaper accounts, and economic and political scholarship of the last fifty-five years to tell the story of U.S. trade policy and the decline of labor standards in the apparel industry. This patient and voluminous examination systematically reveals, for the first time, how the U.S. sacrificed its apparel workers on the altar, first of the anti-Communist crusade, and then of free trade ideology."—Robert J.S. Ross, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Director, International Studies Stream, Clark University "Making Sweatshops is, in part, a history of the apparel and textile industries in the U.S. and the world. But it is much more than that. It is also about power and globalization. Rosen explains how the former shapes the latter, and how workers around the world suffer because of it. Activists, policy makers, consumers--anyone interested in understanding why sweatshops exist--should read this book."—Bruce Raynor, President, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (Unite) "Rosen convincingly demonstrates that it is the transnational corporations rather than the consumers, and certainly rather than the workers, who benefit from trade liberalization, whose rules the lobbyists for these very coporations more or less write for supine politicians. This is a book in the great tradition of solid scholarship allied with deep commitment to the cause of global economic justice."—Leslie Sklair, author of Globalization: Capitalism and its Alternatives
The end of the MFA was followed by rising apparel exports, falling prices, and a reallocation of production and employment between countries. There were also significant changes within countries. The first main finding of this report is that export and employment patterns after the MFA/ATC did not necessarily match predictions. While many predicted that production would shift to low-wage countries, this book shows that only 13 percent of variation in export changes post-MFA can be explained by the differences in wage levels. Second, changes in exports are usually, but not always, good indicators of what happens to wages and employment within countries. This is especially important for policy because it shows that simply using exports as a metric of 'success' in terms of helping the poor is not sufficient. Third, the Book identifies the specific ways that changes in the global apparel market affected earnings. The Book shows that wage premiums change in predictable ways: rising (in most cases) in countries that were proactive in adapting to the MFA phase-out and expanded their market shares, and falling in countries that failed to respond in a timely fashion to the changing environment. The Book shows that promoting 'upgrading' (defined as shifting to higher-value goods, shifting up the value chain, or 'modernizing' production techniques) seems to be necessary for sustainable competitiveness in the apparel sector but does not necessarily help the poor. Policies that support upgrading need to be complemented with targeted workforce development to make sure that the most vulnerable workers are not left behind. Having a vision for the evolution of the apparel sector that incorporates developing worker skills seems crucial. Otherwise, less-skilled workers could miss out on opportunities to gain valuable work experience in manufacturing.
This book explores the means through which the garment industry contributes to industrialization, poverty reduction, empowerment of undereducated workers, in particular female laborers, and shared growth in contemporary low-income countries.
Today textiles and apparel are produced in over 200 countries. Over the past 100 years, trade in textiles and apparel has progressed from independent markets within local communities to a complex global distribution system. No other forms of commerce can claim to be as pervasive throughout the globe as the production and distribution of textile and apparel products. Not only is this business found in all parts of the globe, but textiles and apparel provides employment for more people than any other industry, directly providing a livelihood for many millions of people, including employment of 37 million individuals in India alone! This book provides a coherent framework for understanding globalization in the field of textile and apparel from the perspective of not only business, but all major constituencies affected by world trade. Topics that will be selectively addressed include: economic/business, social/labor, political/government, trade associations, social activists, consumers, developed countries, newly developed countries, and developing countries.
This book highlights the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These universally agreed-upon aspirational goals for people, the planet, prosperity, and peace will not be achieved without all global and local actors – governments, the private sector, and civil society – playing their part. The SDGs offer a unique opportunity to align existing sustainability initiatives through a common framework and accelerate the industry’s efforts to address important challenges in the global textile value chain. Future sourcing models will largely be redefined by how this sector addresses the underlying themes as sourcing countries prioritize the goals and integrate them into their national plans. Stimulating discussion and exploring the many different ways in which the textile and clothing industry can implement the UN SDGs, this informative book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of the topic, and presents various approaches, including reflexive, empirical, hands-on or applied theoretical.
An oft-cited strategy to advance economic development is to further integrate developing countries into global trade, particularly through global value chains, bolstered by the expansion of female-intensive industries to bring more women into the formal labor force. As a result, a frequent debate centers on whether the apparel industry--the most female-intensive and globally engaged manufacturing industry--can be a key player in this strategy. In recent decades, the apparel industry has shifted production to low-wage developing countries, increasing the demand for women, closing male-female wage gaps, and bringing women into the formal labor force from agriculture and informal work. But is an apparel-led export strategy sufficient to induce a broader transition from jobs women do to survive to careers promising stable employment and a sense of identity? 'From Jobs to Careers' answers this question by focusing on seven countries where apparel plays a vital role in their export baskets--Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam. It finds that the apparel industry indeed can serve as a launching pad to bring more women into the labor market. For this approach to work, however, complementary policies must tackle the barriers that hinder women's pursuit of long-term workforce participation and better-paid occupations. Key policy recommendations include increasing the participation of female production workers in export-oriented apparel manufacturing and associated industries, upgrading within manufacturing-related industries, boosting access to education, and breaking glass ceilings. The report also seeks to shift the paradigm of how we think of women in the labor force by stressing the importance of their transition from jobs to careers--the so-called 'quiet revolution.'
