The Apparel Industry

Abstract

The apparel industry has grown to be the third largest consumer industry with apparel shipments of over 51.6 billion dollars in 1982. Competition from foreigh imports threatens to reduce the domestic apparel producers’ market share. In 1975, imports made up 13.7% of the U.S. apparel market. Experts believe that by the late 1980’s, the foreign share may increase to as high as 50%. Due to the lower wages paid to a garment workers over seas, imported apparel can be sold at 20% less than U.S. goods, even after application of import duties. Thus, to maintain or increase domestic producers’ share of the U.S. market, production costs must be reduced. Robotics provide the potential of assisting in achieving productivity improvements. This chapter reports on developments in this area.