Strategic focus for substantial rewards

Abstract

Due principally to the desire to seek lower production costs, the bulk of the world’s textile and clothing manufacture migrated to low-cost zones, mainly outside Europe, over the course of the late-twentieth century. In the early-twenty-first century, fast fashion became a dominant force worldwide, with ‘Western’ retail buyers hunting cheaper deals from clothing manufacturers (mainly in Asia), and with occasional disasters not changing matters beyond the duration of a fashion season. Progressively, seams became narrower, cheaper raw materials were used and durability was no longer an aim. Why bother to do otherwise? This was what the ‘Western’ consumer wanted: fashion to be worn only a few times and then discarded, despite the fact that vast amounts of human, technological and financial resources were wasted in such a quest. By the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, the production of textile and clothing products continued to contribute substantially to global warming. This paper reviews briefly the current conditions of manufacture, and argues that the research agenda should be focused on addressing the implications of a progressively changed focus, not on fast-fashion products, but instead on the production of products with greater durability. Meanwhile ‘Western’ consumers need to turn away from fast fashion and realise that waste is bad for their economy and their society. It is argued further, that after a period of re-adjustment, substantial financial rewards await the national textile and clothing industries that undergo such a turn around.