Asian apparel industry: geographic specifics and key development areas

Abstract

The global textile and apparel sector historically played a key role in the developing economies of Asia, which now account for three quarters of global apparel exports. Today as new countries embark on the path of export-oriented industrialization, the geography of the industry is expanding due to the emergence of new clothing manufacturing centers in Asia. The article is dedicated to a comprehensive analysis of the spatial organization of the garment industry in the Asian region. The modern dynamics of the economic indicators of the industry at the national level is considered, key trends are indicated. The parameters of the suppliers search in combination with the location factors of the textile and apparel industry are revealed, and their influence on the spatial pattern of the industry is explained. At the regional level, the identification, qualitative and quantitative analysis of the concentration areas of the textile and apparel industry is carried out based on location of production sites of the leading companies in the industry. In total, 14 areas of the export-oriented textile and apparel industry in Asia have been highlighted and divided into three types based on their product and technological specialization, the size and ownership structure of enterprises, and backward linkages to the textile sector. It was revealed that the trend of shift of garment production continues both at the level of national economies (to other countries) as well as at the regional level (from large centers to the inner regions of countries), however, the return on the model of constant search for new production facilities for cost reduction is decreasing.