Struggling to Compete: Post-War Changes in the US Clothing Industry

Textile History

Volumn 28, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 90-104

  Taplin, Ian M ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CLOTHING INDUSTRY; ECONOMIC DATA; ECONOMIC INFORMATION; MANUFACTURING; MARKET; TEXTILE HISTORY;

EID: 0031290108     PISSN: 00404969     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1179/tex.1997.28.1.90     Document Type: Review

References (46)

1. My thanks go to the participants at the conference on the Development of the Clothing Industry, at the University of Reading, whose useful comments on an earlier draft were appreciated, and particularly to Andrew Godley for his excellent editorial comments.
2. S. Fraser, 'Combined and Uneven Development in the Men's Clothing Industry', Business History Review, LVII (1983), pp. 522-47; A. Godley, 'Comparative Labour Productivity in the British and American Clothing Industries, 1850-1950', Textile History, XXVIII (1997); and idem, 'The diffusion of the sewing machine as a consumer good, 1865-1905', University of Reading mimeo. 1995.
3. S. Fraser, 'Combined and Uneven Development in the Men's Clothing Industry', Business History Review, LVII (1983), pp. 522-47; A. Godley, 'Comparative Labour Productivity in the British and American Clothing Industries, 1850-1950', Textile History, XXVIII (1997); and idem, 'The diffusion of the sewing machine as a consumer good, 1865-1905', University of Reading mimeo. 1995.
4. S. Fraser, 'Combined and Uneven Development in the Men's Clothing Industry', Business History Review, LVII (1983), pp. 522-47; A. Godley, 'Comparative Labour Productivity in the British and American Clothing Industries, 1850-1950', Textile History, XXVIII (1997); and idem, 'The diffusion of the sewing machine as a consumer good, 1865-1905', University of Reading mimeo. 1995.
5. R. Waldinger, Through the Eye of the Needle (New York: New York University Press, 1986).
6. D. Avery and G. Sullivan, 'Changing Patterns: Reshaping the Southeastern Textile-Apparel Complex', Economic Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (November 1985), p. 35.
7. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earning, 1939-1982.
8. OTA, The U.S. Textile and Apparel Industry: A Revolution in Progress (Washington, DC: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987); Waldinger, Needle.
9. OTA, The U.S. Textile and Apparel Industry: A Revolution in Progress (Washington, DC: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987); Waldinger, Needle.
10. G. Wright, Old South, New South (New York: Basic Books, 1986).
11. For a useful discussion of work practices in the early mills, as well as comments on the reproduction of hierarchical authority relations in the towns themselves, see J. Leiter, 'Continuity and Change in the Legitimation of Authority in Southern Mill Towns', in Social Problems, XXIX (1982), pp. 540-50; and J. Leiter, M. D. Schulman and R. Zingraff, Hanging By a Thread (Ithaca: Industrial and Labor Relations Press of Cornell University, 1991).
12. For a useful discussion of work practices in the early mills, as well as comments on the reproduction of hierarchical authority relations in the towns themselves, see J. Leiter, 'Continuity and Change in the Legitimation of Authority in Southern Mill Towns', in Social Problems, XXIX (1982), pp. 540-50; and J. Leiter, M. D. Schulman and R. Zingraff, Hanging By a Thread (Ithaca: Industrial and Labor Relations Press of Cornell University, 1991).
13. See P. Laslett and M. Tyler, The ILGWU in Los Angeles (Inglewood, CA: Ten Star Press, 1989) for details on the early unionisation struggles in the Los Angeles area.
14. See I. Light and E. Bonacich, Immigrant Entrepreneurs (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987); and A. Godley, 'Jewish Soft Loan Societies in New York and London and Immigrant Entrepreneurship', Business History XXXVIII (1996) for further details.
15. See I. Light and E. Bonacich, Immigrant Entrepreneurs (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987); and A. Godley, 'Jewish Soft Loan Societies in New York and London and Immigrant Entrepreneurship', Business History XXXVIII (1996) for further details.
16. I. M. Taplin, 'Rethinking Flexibility: The Case of the Apparel Industry', Review of Social Economy, LIV (1996), pp. 191-220.
17. See W. Cline, The Future of World Trade in Apparel (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1987) and E. Bonacich, L. Chang, N. Chinchilla, N. Hamilton and P. Ong, Global Production: The Apparel Industry in the Pacific Rim (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994).
18. See W. Cline, The Future of World Trade in Apparel (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1987) and E. Bonacich, L. Chang, N. Chinchilla, N. Hamilton and P. Ong, Global Production: The Apparel Industry in the Pacific Rim (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994).
19. US Department of Commerce, U.S. Industrial Outlook, 1994 (Washington, DC, 1994).
20. R. Appelbaum and G. Gereffi, 'Power and Profits in the Apparel Commodity Chain', in E. Bonacich et al., Global Production.
21. J. Hammond, 'Quick Response in Retail/Manufacturing Channels', in S. Bradley, J. Hausman and P. Nolan (eds), Globalization, Technology and Competition (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1993).
22. A. Stern, 'Retailers Restructure', Dun's Business Monthly (February 1986).
23. B. L. Friedman, 'Productivity Trends in Department Stores', Monthly Labor Review, III (1988), pp. 17-21.
24. R. Rothstein, Keeping Jobs in Fashion (Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute 1989), p. 22. See also US Department of Commerce, Industrial Outlook.
25. R. Rothstein, Keeping Jobs in Fashion (Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute 1989), p. 22. See also US Department of Commerce, Industrial Outlook.
26. US Department of Commerce, Industrial Outlook.
27. See comments by plant managers and firm owners on this topic in I. M. Taplin, 'Flexible Production, Rigid Jobs', Work and Occupation, XXII (1995), pp. 412-38; and I. M. Taplin and J. F. Ordovensky, 'Changes in Buyer-Supplier Relationships and Labour Market Structure', The Journal of Clothing Technology and Management, XII (1995), pp. 1-8.
28. See comments by plant managers and firm owners on this topic in I. M. Taplin, 'Flexible Production, Rigid Jobs', Work and Occupation, XXII (1995), pp. 412-38; and I. M. Taplin and J. F. Ordovensky, 'Changes in Buyer-Supplier Relationships and Labour Market Structure', The Journal of Clothing Technology and Management, XII (1995), pp. 1-8.
29. For an example of this see the comments of employers in the north central Piedmont area of North Carolina where the unemployment rate has been around 4 per cent since the mid-1980s. Employers have complained of a critical shortage of skilled sewing machine operators and the difficulty that they have had in retaining formerly unskilled workers whom they have trained. See Winston-Salem Journal, 26 Sept. 1988 for specific firm details.
30. For a more extensive discussion of these processes, see P. Berg, E. Appelbaum, T. Bailey and A. Kalleberg, 'The Performance Effects of Modular Production in the Apparel Industry', Industrial Relations, XXXIV (1995); and I. M. Taplin, 'Rethinking Flexibility'.
31. For a more extensive discussion of these processes, see P. Berg, E. Appelbaum, T. Bailey and A. Kalleberg, 'The Performance Effects of Modular Production in the Apparel Industry', Industrial Relations, XXXIV (1995); and I. M. Taplin, 'Rethinking Flexibility'.
32. In recent years, Department of Labor inspectors have invoked the 'hot goods legislation and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1935 to prosecute the actual design firms and private label companies that source goods to contractors who engage in illegal work practices. That, and a number of highly publicised raids of workshops with undocumented workers, has been designed to demonstrate a new toughness on the part of the government. But, in interviews with the author, officials within the Department of Labor privately acknowledged that it is very difficult with their limited resources to eliminate illegal practices. Interviews with Department of Labor officials, Los Angeles, CA, 1994.
33. J. Loucky, M. Soldatenko, G. Scott and E. Bonacich, 'Immigrant Enterprise and Labor in the Los Angeles Garment Industry', in E. Bonacich et al., Global Production.
34. See The Economist, 14 Nov. 1992.
35. See I. M. Taplin and J. Winterton, Rethinking Global Production (Aldershot: Avebury, 1997).
36. US Department of Commerce, Industrial Outlook, pp. 32-38.
37. I. M. Taplin, 'Strategic Reorientations of U.S. Apparel Firms', in G. Gereffi and M. Korziniewicz (eds), Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993).
38. Many of the cutting machines are designed to dramatically increase the amount of fabric that can be cut at any one time. But they also allow firms to use fewer, and lower skilled operators to do the cutting. Interestingly, many firms that manufacture cutting machines advertise their 'deskilling' benefits in a direct appeal to the low skill human resource perspective of many apparel firms. See various issues of the trade magazine Bobbin for examples of this tendency.
39. T. Bailey, 'Organizational Innovation of the Apparel Industry: Strategy or Technique', Industrial Relations, XXXII (1993), pp. 30-48.
40. I. M. Taplin, 'Flexible Production, Rigid Jobs'.
41. See E. Rosen, 'Women Workers in a Restructured Domestic Apparel Industry', Economic Development Quarterly, VIII (1994), pp. 197-210.
42. Interviews with design company personnel, Los Angeles, California, 1993.
43. Whereas in the past retailers had two fashion seasons (winters and summer), goods are now designed for as short a shelf life as six weeks before they are remaindered. This means that manufacturers must supply smaller volumes of more diverse products throughout the year.
44. US Department of Commerce, Industrial Outlook, pp. 32-1.
45. US Department of Commerce, Industrial Outlook, pp. 32-1.
46. The Economist, 4 Mar. 1995.