US Apparel Industry Research Articles

A retrospect on the US apparel industry: expert predictions and reality data

Purpose In 1978, the once powerful US apparel industry was on the cusp of change, and the consulting firm KSA conducted a Delphi survey of apparel executives’ predictions into the 2000s. The purpose of this paper is to compare actual changes over the subsequent decades with these 1978 expert predictions and explore the accuracy/inaccuracy of these “educated guesses” (KSA, 1978, p. 1). Design/methodology/approach The chorographic method was used to analyze the report and document historical data. Chorography is “concerned with significance of place, regional characterization, [and] local history […]” (Rohl, 2012, p.1) and includes contextual settings and researcher input. Primary data were examined during each decade and included: industry literature, government documents and labor data. The researchers used content analysis to reduce and organize data. Findings Findings cover three decades of Southeast US apparel industry data including imports, employment, number of plants, size of plants and productivity. Predictions were inaccurate about imports, predicted to be minor in comparison with domestic production, which they actually surpassed. Predicted decrease in employment was similar to actual decrease but reasons were inaccurate. Change in number and size of plants were over-predicted and under-predicted. Reasons given by experts were automation and government intervention; in actuality, limited automation occurred with insignificant impact in contrast to outsourcing, which decimated employment in US plants. Steady increase in productivity was predicted when productivity often decreased. Originality/value Previous studies focus on the textile sector; studies of the apparel sector tend to be regional or topical. This study is more expansive and provides insight into predictions and changes made in the US apparel industry at a critical time in its near demise. With the current climate of global change and increased market uncertainty, insights from this study may provide direction for rethinking of the domestic apparel industry for the USA and other developed countries.

The Impact of Firm Financial Efficiency on Executive Compensation of United States Apparel Stores Industry: An Application of Panel Data Envelopment Analysis

This study examines the effect of firm financial efficiency on executive compensation with an emphasis on the US apparel industry. We find that both annual efficiency levels and cumulative efficiency changes obtained from the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are positively associated with CEO pay. The effect is stronger for technological changes and changes in scale efficiency. Our results seem to support the pay-for-efficiency paradigm, a stricter version of the pay-for-performance framework under the efficient contracting explanation for CEO pay.

Product and Marketing Actions in a Competitive Scenario

We analyze product and marketing actions and their consequences on firm competitive outcomes. These actions are investigates in relative terms compared to a firm’s direct competitors. Our results shed new light on how a firm’s choices regarding product portfolio and marketing postures affect its performance, while accounting for competitive conditions in the external environment. The theory is tested using data from the US apparel industry.

Framing Fat: Competing Constructions in Contemporary Culture SamanthaKwan and JenniferGraves. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2013.

Framing Fat: Competing Constructions in Contemporary Culture Samantha Kwan and Jennifer Graves. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2013.The Associated Press reports that the average American woman's weight is twenty-five pounds more than in 1960. Does that mean she is less healthy, more emotional with less willpower, uglier, or making her own choices? Is she satisfied with her appearance? These questions typify the ways fat is perceived in American culture. In Framing Fat, Samantha Kwan and Jennifer Graves identify and analyze the near ubiquitous conversations criticizing (almost always) the fat body.Kwan and Graves identify four frames producing this confusing discourse and the cultural producers that contest the field of obesity; the most dominant of these is the aesthetic (Fat is Frightful) frame. Kwan and Graves first note that multinational corporations have huge financial interests in transforming obese people into the right sorts of objects, desperate to buy solutions from these corporations. This fashionbeauty with billions of dollars in play, includes food and beverage companies, health clubs, bariatric surgeons, and commercial weight loss centers. The US apparel industry alone generates $181 billion annually, yet only nine percent of their products are in plus-sizes, the Associated Press claims. With fat bodies missing from all the advertisements and articles informed by the aesthetic frame, fat bodies, male and female, are consciously annihilated, creating a of lack, in which moral failures are created for the public. This means the fat body is under constant evaluation, even self-surveillance. (Kwan and Graves are very aware that they are standing on the shoulders, as they admit, of theorists like Bartky, Foucault, Giovenelli and Ostertag, as well as a mountain of research, clinical and otherwise. They include nearly six hundred citations supporting their work).Fat has its origins in a dissertation; its methodology is its strength. Most of its examples of fat discourse will be familiar, but the analysis which frames the discourse analysis here makes for startling clarity. Kwan and Graves build on the frame analysis advanced by Gamson, Lasch, and Modigliani-to consider each of these frames by its central claims, cited causes of obesity, its consequences, principles, and proposed solutions or policies. Kwan and Graves are aware that complex cultural discourses cannot neatly be dissected (15), but they argue that frame analysis makes for thorough comparisons, and they expand their framing matrix to examine the ways culture producers employ framing devices: supporting data, metaphor, exemplars, catchphrases, depictions of enemies, and visuals. …

Exploring the locus of profitable outsourcing: the case of US apparel industry

The apparel industry faces huge challenges, e.g., uncertain product demand, highly diversified inventory, strict product pricing, and intricate supplier selection in the design and management of their supply chains, which adds to the complexity of outsourcing decisions. The key purpose of this research therefore, is to present a solution model to these challenges. Review and analysis of existing empirical studies facilitated the development of a conceptual model. By utilising this conceptual model, logistics professionals and supply chain managers in the apparel and clothing industry can focus on their core activities and make effective outsourcing decisions simultaneously across their firms’ both the functional and the logistical activities leading to improved profitability over time.

Buyer-Supplier Partnerships in the Global Apparel Industry: A Study of US Buyers and Indian Suppliers

The purpose of this article is to explore US apparel industry buyers’ perceptions of and experiences with building partnerships with their Indian suppliers. A qualitative methodology was used for data collection and interpretation. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-three buyers in the USA engaged in sourcing apparel products from Indian suppliers. A thematic interpretation of the interview data revealed six factors participants look for when working with their suppliers in India: Expertise, Convenience, Price, Functionality, Service, and Partnership. Participants valued the unique offerings provided by Indian suppliers, and preferred to focus on building strong partnership-based relationships with a few select suppliers rather than working with many different suppliers. Four types of partnerships were defined based on the interview data. Results of the study contribute to both U.S. apparel industry buyers’ and Indian suppliers’ knowledge of relationship-building in the global apparel industry.

A holistic network model for supply chain analysis

Supply chain researchers are experiencing a conceptual and analytical paradox. They are asked to move beyond dyadic analyses and investigate larger network effects with only a limited analytical toolkit. This research proposes the use of bilinear mixed-modeling to holistically analyze supply chain phenomena. Through this approach, researchers are able to account for multiple supply chain relationships, higher-order dependencies among member firms, and simultaneously evaluate covariates from buyer and seller perspectives. The model is validated through the lens of a pervasive supply chain problem commonly referred to as the bullwhip effect. A sample of firms from the US apparel industry in 2004 is analyzed and then the findings are confirmed using data from 2005. In addition to validating the model through the presence of the bullwhip effect, the bilinear model illuminates variables such as advertising, price deals, inventory turnover, and inventory backlogs that exacerbate or diminish inventory differences between firms in a supply chain. The results extend research on supply networks and supply efficiency to a more holistic level and show that higher-order dependencies are important drivers of supply chain phenomena.

Mass customization: points and extent of apparel customization

PurposeMass customization (MC) is one of the changes for the US apparel industry that will provide a competitive advantage and offer products needed by consumers. However, as the points of customization and their extent of customization characterize business models including the process strategies to achieve a successful MC strategy, it is imperative to define the points of customization. The purpose of this research is to investigate and introduce the critical points of customization and their extent for apparel.Design/methodology/approachAn apparel industry survey together with case studies was used to collect information to test and support the hypothesis developed through the comprehensive literature review.FindingsFive critical points of apparel customization are defined. These points and their extents of customization are compared, analyzed and validated. It is suggested that the success and the capability of apparel MC will depend on how effectively a company can combine the defined points of customization and their extent of customization in pre‐production, production and post‐production of the apparel product.Research limitations/implicationsThe research findings of points of customization is for an apparel product. However, the concepts may be applied to products in other industries.Practical implicationsThe post‐production customization point using current technologies is a popular practice for mass customization. However, to achieve a higher level or extent of customization such as design point of customization, it is essential to use advanced product development, manufacturing and processing technologies.Originality/valueThe points of apparel customization and their extent of customization have not been studied before for the apparel MC domain. These points and extent of customization provide new insights into the mass customized apparel manufacturing and apparel MC business models.

Apparel import intermediaries' secrets to success

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to obtain an immediate and deeper understanding of apparel import intermediaries' (AII) secrets to success in the hyper‐dynamic US apparel market environment.Design/methodology/approach – Personal in‐depth interviews were conducted with 13 US apparel industry experts who provided an insider's lived experience of the industry. Within a holistic hermeneutic analysis, emergent themes were classified into two broad theme categories: the meaning of success and secrets to success.Findings – The study's informants defined success as a long‐term presence, a platform from which they could impact the industry through creative expression. AIIs' secrets to success emerged as immersion knowledge management; simultaneous dual relationship management; and flexibility saturation.Research limitations/implications – Although qualitative research methods are designed for a deeper understanding of the topic of interest, the study findings of an immediate and lived experience within the...

Professionals' relationships with clients in the apparel industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze patterns of client and professional interaction as reported by professionals in the apparel industry.Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative research involved 23 professionals or individuals who worked for more than ten years in an executive position. The participants, who worked in a variety of positions, in the US apparel industry were interviewed extensively about their professional experiences. Data were analyzed by identifying themes in the interview transcripts using a grounded approach methodology.Findings – The participants described their professional relationships with clients. Clients included individuals in the general public and other industry professionals who used the service or bought the product. The participants, all women, showed similarity or homophily with clients' values, fashion level, age, gender, economic level, and body size. All participants emphasized differences or heterophily with clients in expertise and level of innov...

Can fast fashion save the US apparel industry?

The US apparel industry employed over 1 million workers as late as 1980, but today it employs only about one-third of that number. The common explanation for this collapse is the delocalization of production to low wage countries, but this neglects advantages of speed, flexibility and proximity to centres of fashion and design that have helped some suppliers in high wage countries, such as Italy, to defend niche markets for fashionable products. This paper examines the question of why the US apparel industry has failed to tap these advantages. Based upon the analysis of both national data and original field research in the New York garment industry, it argues that the US industry has relied too long on an industry model based on ‘mass fashion’ products, the scale and scope economies of large-scale suppliers and mass retailers, and innovations in information technologies as sources of competitiveness, while ignoring the importance of niche product innovation, small-scale supply chains and flexible retailing, and ‘collaboration economies’ in design and production networks. Even in New York City, where small firms and fashion markets are important, the dominance of the large-scale mass-fashion model has inhibited contractors from developing highly productive and entrepreneurial supply networks that combine design with manufacturing and take full advantage of their potential for speed, flexibility and quality production.

Productivity, returns to scale and the elasticity of factor substitution in the USA apparel industry

In light of the growing trade deficit and unemployment in the US apparel industry, we estimate the industry's productivity and efficiency for the period 1976–93 utilizing a variable elasticity of factor substitution production function. The results indicate industry adjustment by increasing labor productivity and maintaining fairly stable profits despite job losses. Performance, thus far, does not justify additional protectionist trade policy. However, due to evidence of rapidly decreasing capital productivity, substantial technological improvements will be necessary. With an elasticity of factor substitution less than one and decreasing, an increase in factor prices could result in higher apparel prices and preference for cheaper imports. Competition in the industry could be intensified by recent rules of the WTO to liberalize trade in apparel.

Statistical Review

The US apparel industry continues to be a large, mature industry that is intensely competitive. It is also highly fragmented and is undergoing restructuring and operational changes that further accentuate past trends. The principal drivers of change continue to be the increasing levels of low‐cost imports, but also include dramatic changes in retailing following consolidation of the retail sector, new technology, changing work habits and demographic changes (principally the ageing of the baby boomers). In addition, trade and tax legislation that confers special status on firms operating in certain Caribbean countries has resulted in the growth of outward processing that in turn has led to further domestic firm operational restructuring.

US consumers' knowledge of and concern with apparel sweatshops

US consumers admit they are not knowledgeable about the global apparel industry; however, they hold positive beliefs about US apparel industry labour practices. Consumers have much less regard for the foreign industry. There is a slightly higher level of concern for US workers versus foreign workers. Governmental regulations, labelling and store boycotts are agreed upon solutions for abolishing sweatshops. Implications of consumers' beliefs and attitudes to the global apparel industry and governmental policy are discussed.

Rethinking Flexibility: The Case of the Apparel Industry

This paper analyzes new forms of flexibility in the US apparel industry and the consequences of this flexibility for labor market segmentation. Post-Fordist flexible work organization takes place only in those enterprises that occupy privileged positions in newly established hierarchical networks of firms. Subcontracting work to smaller firms results in labor segmentation between rather than within firms. Dominant firms in hierarchical networks gain production efficiencies similar to that attained by a fixed hierarchy within Fordist type enterprises. For most apparel workers, the new production system could best be described as neo-Fordist, since it appears to be predicated on routinization and work intensification.

A flat surface robotic gripper for handling limp material

A prototype flat-surface, single-chambered and multi-chambered gripper, based on the operational principle of suction and pressure differential has been designed, implemented and experimentally tested. The prototype grippers are proven sufficient to pick and place fabric material accurately and reliably without causing any distortion and/or folding of the fabric. Both prototype grippers have been mounted on AdeptOne and AdeptThree robot arms for experimental and reliability analysis. They both meet requirements as set by the US apparel industry, related to pick and place single cut plies of several types of fabric. >