Bring In, Go Up, Go West, Go Out: Upgrading, Regionalisation and Delocalisation in China’s Apparel Production Networks

Abstract

The rise of China’s export-oriented apparel industry since the 1990s has been driven largely by global sourcing practices intent on capturing the cost advantages of a development model predicated, in part, on unskilled or semi-skilled migratory labour flows, linking western and central labour pools to coastal production sites. Until recently, the dominance of this model has fuelled growth in low-wage employment in the coastal regions and has provided few opportunities for economic and social upgrading. Since the early 2000s, coastal factories have increasingly had to confront difficulties generated by the increasing social and economic costs of this regionally concentrated low wage growth model. Specifically, this paper focuses on the role of the apparel industry in this process. It documents the major changes in organisation and geographies of economic activity in the industry, and demonstrates how the central and local state, domestic and international capital and Chinese and other Asian workers are shaping the changing organisation and geography of China’s apparel industry. The paper focuses particularly on firm strategies and state policies that have arisen in response to pressure to increase wages from workers, rising materials and energy costs and competition from other low-cost producers in Asia.