ABSTRACT
Clothing is the paramount global commodity, having some of the highest levels of import penetration as well as volumes of trade and supply chain internationalization. Trade in clothing is among the longest established in the world, yet there has recently been a dramatic increase of global interdependence in production and consumption, with producers from different countries taking turns at occupying centre stage over the past forty years. The location of offshore production has shifted constantly, including Japan (in the 1960s); Southern Europe, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan (1970s); mainland China, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia (late 1980s); and South Asia and North Africa (1990s) (Gibbon 2002; Gereffi and Memedovic 2003). The significance of Latin America, Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East have also increased (Begg and Pickles 2000; Gereffi and Memedovic 2003).
