Introduction to Textile and Clothing Industries by SMARTEX

The textile and clothing industries makes a major part of manufacturing Production, employment and trade in many developing countries and pays a significant role in the society to be developed for the Humans. This article will examine the importance of the Textile and Clothing industry in growth and development strategies in developing countries. We will review economic and social aspects and describe the importance of textiles and clothing in incomes, employment and growth and development strategies of developing countries.  The Textile and Clothing industry is one of the oldest, largest and most global industries in the world. It is the typical ‘starter’ industry for countries engaged in export orientated industrialization (Gereffi 2002) and is labour-intensive. Textile and Clothing offers a range of opportunities including entry-level jobs for unskilled labour in developing countries. The technological features of the Textile and Clothing industry have made it suitable as the first step on the ‘industrialization ladder’ in poor countries some of which have experienced a very high output growth rate in the sector, such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Mauritius, and have since become middle income countries (Vietnam, Mauritius). Brenton et al. (2007) suggest a number of reasons why the clothing sector has played such an important role in economic development. The sector absorbs large numbers of unskilled labour, typically drawing them from rural agricultural households to rural locations. Despite relatively low start-up investment costs, expansion of the sector provides a base upon which to build capital for more technologically demanding activities in other sectors. Growth of the sector allows imports of more advanced technologies to be financed through revenues gained from garment exports.    However the characteristics of the industry (relatively low capital intensity; low investment costs; and use of low skilled labour), also mean that the industry is relatively footloose and able to adjust to changing market conditions quickly (Nordas2004). Trade policy regulations has had a major impact on the pattern of textile and clothing production and are likely to do so in the near future. China has become a very important player now that restrictions on its trade are progressively being lifted. This has intensified competition for traditional textile and clothing producer’s especially small and remote countries. The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 2 reviews the economic aspects of the textile and clothing industry, from a macro perspective, both static and dynamic. Section 3 reviews social aspects. Section 4 discusses the role of trade and other economic policies in using textiles and clothing industries for growth and development. Section 5 presents some brief case studies on the role of textiles and clothing in growth and development strategies in four countries. Section 6 concludes.