ABSTRACT
The textiles and clothing industries in Western Europe and North America have rarely been free from difficulties. The problems of shrinking markets due to world depression and competition from low-cost producers faced by the industry in the inter-war period appear. The problems have also multiplied, not least with the advent of many more low-cost producers, in the context of a continuously high rate of technological innovation. A Short Term Arrangement came into effect in 1961 to be followed by the Long Term Arrangement regarding International Trade in Cotton Textiles (LTA) in 1962. The man-made fibers industry in the advanced industrial countries has inevitably experienced many of the problems that affect the textiles industry as a whole. The 1973–74 oil crisis therefore had particularly severe repercussions for the man-made, and especially synthetic, fibers industry. The immediate effects of the 1973–74 oil crisis were the cancellation of perhaps a third of existing orders and the collapse of demand for new ships.
