ABSTRACT
The textiles and clothing industry played a major role in the transformation of Britain to the status of first industrial nation.1 Indeed it has been argued that the ‘industrial revolution was a textiles revolution: the cotton textiles industry was the primary engine of growth’ (Dicken, 1992:233). While the textiles and clothing sectors can no longer claim to be the driving force of the UK economy, they are still major contributors to employment, as can be seen in Table 4.1.
