This paper undertakes a comparative study of two large UK clothing plants in the 1990s with earlier twentieth century studies of clothing workshops undertaken in the late 1950s by Cunnison and Lupton, and in the late 1970s by Edwards and Scullion. Traditionally the clothing industry is...

The last 20 years has seen a relentless shift to offshore manufacturing as retailers chase ever‐lower labor costs. The results of this strategy can now be evaluated and we propose that some adjustments are in order. We analyze the case of a North American apparel manufacturer (Griffin...

Principles of supply chain management are discussed in relation to the modifications, extensions, and challenges currently prevalent in internationally operating companies. The central issue is: How do international operations affect common SCM principles? First, insights from the literature are...

An exploratory survey of the Hong Kong coloration industry revealed that conformance is the key attribute of quality, but the maturity of quality management mainly resides at the stage of inspection. The larger the dyehouse, the more mature the quality system that was adopted. The generic...

A study in the retail market entry strategy of a major UK manufacturer which highlights the difficulties of forward vertical integration, conflict with other retail customers, and heralds a complete restructuring of the company, as the joint venture in retailing takes time and capital to establish.

As Czech apparel and textile firms have moved towards privatization following the 1989 revolution, they have reduced their dependence on the state‐owned export organization, Centrotex, and they have introduced in‐house marketing activities, departments and strategies. Discusses the evolving...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify three commonly observed mistakes made when managing suppliers and describe factors that contribute to successful buyer–supplier partnerships. Design/methodology/approach – Five extensive case studies in the automotive and clothing...

The textiles and clothing (T&C) industries in the Greater China region (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) began to integrate with each other based on their advantageous factor endowments in line with the structural transition of economic developments since the 1980s. This rationalization has...

Many manufacturers have implemented a participative, team‐based approach to remain competitive in this global arena. Numerous studies have extolled the competitive advantages of implementing this approach. Few studies, however, have examined employees’ perceptions of participative...

The paper charts the evolution of the UK women’s wear industry between 1993 and 2001 in terms of domestic production and trade. UK domestic production fell by 41 per cent in value terms and 52 per cent in volume terms while import penetration rose to 67 per cent in value terms or 96 per cent...