Apparel Retailing in the United States

Abstract

This chapter reviews the history of the U.S. retail industry and the role it played in the U.S. textile and apparel trade agenda. It also explains the links between the industry's corporate growth in the 1980s and its dependence on further liberalization of global trade. The growth of private-label clothing blurred the lines between different segments of the apparel industry. The success of discounting intensified the profit crisis facing the perhaps too rapidly expanding U.S. apparel retailing industry. The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing had made it easier for fashion producers to access new sites for the export processing of apparel. Trade liberalization and technological developments in transport and communication have allowed apparel retailers access to low-wage sourcing on a global basis. The limits of global retail expansion are ultimately a function of the demand for consumer goods produced by U.S. textile, apparel, and retail transnationals.