Technological Change and the Global Relocation of Production in Textiles and Clothing

The 1970s and 1980s were turbulent times for the textile and clothing industries. Shifts in demand, the emergence of new actors and the diffusion of new technology contributed in a major way to the intensification of competition in this industry world-wide. As part of that process dynamic firms in the advanced industrial countries pursued a dual strategy in which the delocalization of production served as a complement to rapid technological change transforming the production cycle from conception to the market. Part one analyzes these changes and their initial impact on the relocation of production to the Third World. Part two examines the strategies developed by firms in the newly industrialized economies (NIBs) in response to these changes. Part three then discusses the limitations on the ability of indigenous manufacturers in the NIEs and in second-tier Asian industrializing countries to become competitive, independent.l textile and clothing producers.