User talk:Sunil025

Gary Gereffi

Abstract The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has dramatically increased the export dynamism of the Mexican apparel industry. The sheer increase in the country’s clothing exports to the United States, from $1.8 billion in 1994 to a peak of $8.7 billion in 2000 and $7.2 billion in 2003, is impressive evidence of this claim. NAFTA has also promoted the consolidation of apparel export production centers. This case study concentrates on one of these production centers, the Torreon region of Mexico, which has been called the new blue jeans capital of the world. Torreon is a dynamic industrial cluster of 500,000 workers located in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, about four hours from the Texas portion of the U.S. border by car. It is located in the heart of La Laguna region, well known for its cotton and dairy products. Torreon’s apparel industry is actually a cluster of three cities, as it straddles the near-by municipalities of Gómez Palacio and Lerdo, in the neighboring state of Durango. Following an economic recession in the early 1990s, Torreon has been one of the main beneficiaries of Mexico’s recent export boom. Although Torreon is also home to other export-oriented manufacturing sectors, such as autoparts and machinery, the apparel and textile industries have been the star performers in terms of export growth and job creation. Despite this undeniable growth, a verdict on the consequences of NAFTA for both Torreon and Mexico has yet to be reached. Much of the debate about NAFTA in academic and policymaking circles on both sides of the border has addressed the question, "Is NAFTA good policy, and if so, for whom?” The maquila form of production occupies a center stage in this debate. Maquiladoras are factories that assemble products for export from imported components that enter the country duty-free. Proponents of the maquiladoras assert that it is a valuable source of export revenue and job creation for Mexico. However, the program’s critics see it as the ultimate example of a “new international division of labor” that traps developing countries into the deadend role of providing cheap labor for low value-added assembly operations. Because the vast majority of inputs assembled into final products in the maquilas are imported,2 the maquilas do not stimulate growth in the rest of the economy.

This debate rests implicitly on three assumptions: a) that the change in Torreon (and other Mexican production centers) from local production to export manufacturing is a direct consequence of NAFTA; b) that the unavoidable consequence of the free trade agreement is the conversion of Mexico into a giant maquila (or assembly-oriented) economy; and c) that maquila production does not promote local development. These assumptions conceal and oversimplify the dynamics of export industrialization and regional development in Mexico. The question should not be whether NAFTA promotes Mexican development, but rather under what conditions do particular regions in Mexico benefit from free trade? Is NAFTA promoting the maquilization of Mexico, and if so, which factors could be expected to lessen this effect? What is the role played by foreign capital in establishing favorable or unfavorable conditions for local firms? How do local institutions and conditions mediate this process? 3 The New Blue Jeans Capital of the World Torreon is one of several rapidly growing post-NAFTA apparel production clusters in Mexico, reflecting the increased importance of this industry to the country’s overall export profile in recent years. Mexico emerged as a world-class player among global textile and apparel exporters during the second half of the 1990s. In 1991, Mexico was the seventh largest exporter of apparel to the United States. By the decade's close, Mexico topped China to gain the number one spot, with the value of Mexican apparel exports increasing from $1.2 billion in 1990 to $8.8 billion in 1999 (SECOFI, 2001). However, China pulled ahead of Mexico in 2001 and is predicted to widen its lead after the phase-out of Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) quotas in 2005.4 While overall apparel exports from Mexico have increased dramatically over the past five years, we focus on the leading item in Mexico’s garment export repertoire: blue jeans. In 1999, the United States imported more than $2.6 billion of trousers from Mexico, accounting for 34% of total apparel imports from its southern neighbor (USITC, 2001). Torreon specializes in denim blue jeans, which account for the lion's share of cotton trousers. In 2000, firms in the Torreon area were producing an average of six million garments a week, of which 90% were exported. Jeans accounted for 75% of the exported apparel, and thus the region made over four million pairs of jeans each week (see Table 1). [Table 1 about here] In contrast, El Paso, Texas— Torreon’s predecessor as the blue jeans capital of the world and a major manufacturing center for Levi Strauss & Co. before the company closed its last factories there in 1999—produced two million pairs of jeans a week at its peak in the early 1980s. To keep pace with this dramatic increase in output, employment in Torreon’s 360 apparel factories grew considerably from 12,000 jobs in 1993 to an estimated 75,000 in 2000. In addition, the share of Mexican denim used in Torreon’s exported blue jeans increased from 1-2% in 1993 to 15% in 2000, and the piece rates paid to firms for blue jean assembly rose two- to threefold (Table 1).

Explaining Torreon’s Export Success There are several reasons for Torreon’s export success. Although not located along the northern border where the country’s in-bond, export-oriented maquila sector has historically been strongest, Torreon is still close and well connected to the United States. This gives it a distinct advantage over other production sites in the interior of Mexico, particularly since quick turnaround time and reliable delivery of even basic apparel products such as blue jeans (which are not generally considered to be high-fashion items) are critical for U.S. retailers and manufacturers. The Torreon area also has a significant cotton textile tradition, which is allowing the site to emerge as a model of integrated manufacturing, with denim production and apparel assembly occurring in the same Mexican cluster. However, this dynamism in the export of jeans is a relatively new phenomenon. In 1993, Torreon produced only 500,000 pairs of jeans a week, most of them under the provisions of the 807/9802 maquila program5 and mainly limited to assembly activities. Apparel export manufacturing only became important for the region in the mid-1980’s. Prior to this time, apparel production focused on the domestic market. During the last 15 years, the blue jeans industry in Torreon has undergone a series of shifts: from local production to maquila exporting to full-package manufacturing. This evolution has been driven by four main factors: 1. Mexico’s peso devaluations 2. NAFTA and the subsequent elimination of tariffs and trade barriers 3. New organizational buyers, especially apparel retailers and brands 4. Upgraded capabilities and local expertise applied to apparel production The effects of each one of these factors will be examined below. The Peso Devaluation Effect The Torreon region has a strong tradition in the apparel and textile industry. Textile mills have been located in the region since the late 19th century. During the 1940’s and 1950’s companies like Fábricas El Venado, Fábricas de Ropa Manjai, Metro, and Guadiana were founded to satisfy the need of the national market for work clothes, particularly for rural settings. These companies specialized in the production of jeans and other denim items. During the following decades, as jeans evolved from being “work clothes” to an object of fashion, and moved from rural communities to the streets of cities, local companies developed their own brands. Under the import-substitution strategy, which prevailed in Mexico from the 1940s through the 1970s, there was little international competition and Mexican suppliers dominated the domestic market. The Mexican peso crises in 1982, 1985, and 1988, and the subsequent hyperinflation, changed the environment for these companies. Since they were totally dependent on the local market, the reduction in buying power and the related contraction of local demand jeopardized their income. However, inflation affected these companies in a more fundamental way. The jeans industry requires the availability of working capital to acquire the raw materials and labor necessary for production; this working capital is recovered by selling the jeans (plus a profit) and then the production cycle begins again. However, jeans manufacturers must wait a period of time in order to receive payment for their products. Under conditions of hyperinflation, the money received for a pair of jeans produced a month ago may not be enough to make a new pair of jeans now, which left manufacturing unprofitable and impossible to sustain. The only viable option for the survival of these companies was to redirect their efforts from a stagnant domestic market to the more solid U.S. market. Export prices are set in dollars, and therefore are not affected by the changes in a volatile economy. However, this shift in orientation had its downside for Torreon companies. Although these firms performed all production activities related to the manufacturing of jeans (assembly, cutting, laundering, finishing, marketing and design), their quality was not up to international standards. Torreon firms were unable to offer full-package production with the quality requirements of the American clients. Thus, the few companies that managed to survive had to specialize in assembly and became maquila subcontractors for American manufacturers like Sun Apparel, Levi’s, and Farah. This transformation meant, in reality, a de-skilling and a reduction in the value added by Torreon firms. After three years of relative stability, the Mexican peso suffered a dramatic devaluation at the end of 1994. The exchange rate jumped from 3.4 pesos per dollar in December 1994 to 6.8 pesos per dollar in January 1995 (IMF 1999). For the apparel industry, the immediate consequences of the peso devaluation were an increase in the number of U.S. clients interested in the Torreon region, an increase in the number of Mexican apparel assembly plants, and an increase in the production capacity of already existing firms. The NAFTA Effect The upsurge of apparel assembly in the Torreon region was initially due to the Mexican peso devaluations and not NAFTA. What then was the effect of NAFTA on the industry? The most elementary consequence of NAFTA was a change in the rules of the game for producers in Mexico. For the apparel industry, NAFTA meant the progressive elimination of U.S. tariffs and non-monetary barriers to all garment production activities, including laundering, cutting and finishing, as well as the use of Mexican inputs such as textiles (denim), buttons, labels, etc. For the first time, activities other than assembly could be performed in Mexico without the restrictions created by the quota system or the 807/9802 program. Companies that decided to move their operations to Mexico after the implementation of NAFTA would enjoy lower production costs than other companies.

A Bibliography on Apparel Sizing and Related Issues
ABSTRACT Anthropometric data and sizing systems is an important component of apparel quality. Apparel can not be top quality unless it fits satisfactorily the potential wearers. Much research has been conducted on this topic area. Some of these research results are documented but scattered. The purpose of this report is to collect these documentation/references for the quick use of apparel researchers who are studying sizing and its related issues. This report presents an annotated bibliography for apparel sizing and related issues. The report lists full bibliographic reference data and a brief abstract or summary for each technical paper or book. The literature collection for the bibliography includes documents from books, journals, reports, and national and international standards. KEY WORDS anthropometric; apparel; APDES; body measurements; size designation; sizing INTRODUCTION The apparel industry has used computer systems to great advantage to automate many of its manufacturing processes. However, the manufacturing innovations often stand alone as “islands of automation.” Integrating the separate automated processes could greatly improve the effectiveness of the entire enterprise. In recent years, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), under the sponsorship of the Defense Logistics Agency, has been developing the apparel product data exchange standard (APDES) [1]. The goal of the project is to develop a comprehensive specification for sharing apparel product data among all stages of the product life cycle. We, the APDES project members at NIST, have determined a set of manufacturing data interfaces that could be standardized for the effective integration of the information systems required to operate an apparel manufacturing enterprise [2]. We have also developed an information model for Ready-to-Wear Pattern Making, which is one of the manufacturing data interfaces being identified [3]. Currently, we are working on a Made-to-Measure Pattern Making information model. The first 2 task was to conduct a literature survey on Made-to-Measure technology. One of the most critical problems that impact the future development of Made-to-Measure garment is the need for accurate anthropometric data. Hence, we paid great attention to anthropometric data, apparel sizing and related issues when we conducted the survey. The available literature provides a satisfactory amount of information regarding anthropometric measurements, apparel sizing, or fitting, but has little on the current state of Made-to-Measure technology. We believe this is because Made-to- Measure systems are generally developed through industrial efforts and documented only in proprietary manuals. In conducting the survey, we reached the following conclusion. Many designers, manufacturers, retailers, and customers are concerned that the current apparel sizing systems do not describe the body configurations of today’s population. The apparel industry has long awaited reliable and accurate anthropometric data, and the industry needs a consistent and accurate apparel sizing system to increase the quality of ready-to-wear garments. The purpose of this report is to establish a bibliography on sizing and related issues to support apparel research. The apparel technical papers appear in a wide variety of journals and reports. To begin the technical survey, we consulted several apparel experts and requested papers. We also performed an on-line bibliographic search on the Textile Technology Digest within the Dialog Information Services (DIS) system. We identified eighteen papers related to our topic area from the list generated by the on-line DIS system, using keywords such as measurement, fit, size, anthropometric, etc. After we gathered the first set of technical papers, we then traced the references from those papers. Thus, we built our literature collection. The bibliography in this report is a select list of books, journals, reports and national and international standards from our literature collection. In the next section, the bibliography section, a total of fifty items are presented. The information presented in each item includes the author(s), title, journal, volume, page(s), publisher, date, and an abstract. If the abstract is directly from the document, it is marked by an asterisk, *. Unmarked abstracts are summaries prepared by the author of this report. 3 BIBLIOGRAPHY Abend, Jules, “Our Fits Over Fit,” Bobbin, vol.34, #11, pp. 78-80, July 1993. This paper presents three apparel designers' debate on some finer points of sizing. These designers include Nicola Tamburrino from Neiman Marcus, George Simonton from For Paris Suits Ltd. and the Fashion Institute Technology, and Linda Ortwein from Kurt Salmon Associates. All agreed that sizing corrections are necessary, but offered different approaches. Bonney, M. C., K. Case, and J. M. Porter, “User Needs in Computerised Man Models,” NATO Symposium on Anthropometry and Biomechanics Theory and Application, 1982. Models have long been used as part of the design process and they have advantages of cost and speed over other methods both for strategic and operational decision making. Greater computer availability and lower cost means that computer modeling has increasingly been used by designers. Every model is an abstraction and the key to successful modeling appears to be to include in the model only those factors which are relevant to the decision to be made. On the other hand, commonality of needs between problems means that some model attributes are useful for the solution of a range of problems. This paper identifies a set of ground rules for producing a satisfactory man model which integrates the needs of computer aided designers and ergonomists. The paper also proposes a strategy to collect anthropometric data. Churchill, Edmund, Thomas Churchill, John T. McConville, and Robert M. White, “Anthropometry of Women of the U.S. Army - 1977 Report No. 2 - The Basic Univariate Statistics,” U.S. Army Natick Technical Report (Natick/TR-77/024), U.S. Army Natick Research and Development Command, June 1977. This report, the second in a series, summarizes the univariate statistics obtained in an anthropometric survey of women in the U.S. Army. The survey was conducted at Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort McClellan, Alabama; Walter Reed Medical Center, the District of Columbia; and Fort Jackson, South Carolina, during the winter of 1976-1977. Data for 69 body measurements were obtained on a sample of 1,331 women who covered wide ranges of age, rank, and military assignment. Additional data were obtained on between 200 and 300 of the women for: a) other standard body size measurements, b) workspace measurements, c) head and face measurements, and d) static strength measurements. Summary statistics and frequency distributions are given here for all these measurements, plus age. Full descriptions of the measurement techniques and the design and the conducting of the survey appeared in the first of this series of reports. Brief definitions, illustrations of measurements, and outlines of the computational and statistical procedures used in preparing the report are included. 4 Clauser, Charles E., Pearl E. Tucker, John T. McConville, E. Churchill, Lloyd L. Laubach, and Joan A. Reardon, “Anthropometry of Air Force Women,” Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory Technical Report (AMRL-TR-70-5), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, April 1972. This report describes and presents the statistics results of an anthropometric survey of United States Air Force women carried out during 1968. Included in the report are a description of the methods and techniques used in the survey, descriptions of the measuring techniques used, and both uniand bi-variate statistical summaries. A total of 1,905 women was included in this survey sample. The sample was selected from the specific duty stations which offered the highest probability of obtaining a representative cross-section sample of U.S. Air Force women. A total of 137 anthropometric dimensions was measured. This anthropometry included 5 measures of weight and body composition, 30 measures of body height and length, 26 measures of body girth, 15 measures of body breadth and depth, 12 measures of body surface distance, 30 measures of the head and face, 3 measures of the hand, 2 measures of the feet, 1 measure of grip strength, and 13 measures of the subject while she was wearing a foundation garment. DeLong, Marilyn, Susan Ashdown, Leslie Butterfield, and Karin Frost Turnbladh, “Data Specification Needed for Apparel Production Using Computers,” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, vol. 11, #3, pp. 1-7, Spring 1993. production of apparel and ultimate consumer satisfaction with apparel products. Much data specification is needed before apparel can be manufactured that quickly and efficiently takes into account the individual body of the customer. Trial and error fitting methods will no longer be economically feasible with such customized production. Garment fit and ease preferences are explored in this research to determine feasibility of an individually fitted, computer generated pant. A customized pair of pants was made for each of 38 female subjects using a computer-aided-design program that took into account the following factors: body size, configuration, alignment, proportions, and preferred ease amounts of the wearer. A level of prediction for ease was achieved with these pants and 27 of 28 of the final subjects rated their pant as satisfactory or very satisfactory following a seven hour wear test. Dempster, Wilfrid Taylor, Lawrence A. Sherr, and Judith G. Priest, “Conversion Scales for Estimating Humeral and Femoral Lengths and the Lengths of Functional Segments in the Limbs of American Caucasoid Males,” Human Biology, vol. 36, pp. 246-262, 1964. living subjects; and it seeks a new group of functionally significant measurements concerning the arm, forearm, thigh, and leg. Individuals vary considerably in the size and relative proportions of such lengths as those which characterize the arm, forearm, thigh, leg, and head and trunk. These dimensions vary also in relation to total stature. Since there is a continuity between adjacent body 5 segments, one must decide how to define the end-points for measuring segments. Only bones, since they are discontinuous rigid members, may be regarded as individual units; but in the intact body these are not directly available for observation and measurement. Two factors complicate measurements made on living subjects. First, both circumferential and caliper measurements invariably enclose or span a variety of tissues, hence, they cannot be regarded in a strict sense as fundamental measurements. Second, where postural and functional movements at joints are possible between the end points of a caliper or tape measure, dimensional inconsistencies may be expected and the most rigorously stereotyped measurement techniques are necessary for repeatable measurements. Dreyfuss, Henry, “The Measure of Man, Human Factors in Design,” Whitney Library of Design, 1960. Sixteen diagrams based on human dimensions are presented in the report. These diagrams were developed in the course of designing the interiors of airplanes and liners, plumbing fixtures, machine tools, farm and industrial equipment, telephones, and the interiors of combat vehicles and vessels. The categories for these diagrams are: (1) anthropometric data- standing adult male, (2) anthropometric data- standing adult female, (3) anthropometric data- male and female children, (4) basic visual data, (5) hand measurements of men, women, and children, (6) foot measurements and basic foot controls, (7) anthropometric data- adult male standing at control board, (8) anthropometric data- adult female standing at control board, (9) anthropometric data- adult male seated at console, (10) anthropometric data- adult female seated at console, (11) anthropometric data- adult male seated in vehicle, (12) human strength, body clearances, climbing data, and ingress and egress, (13) basic display data, and (14) basic control data. French, G. W., “International Sizing,” Clothing Institute Journal, vol. XXIII, pp. 155-162, April 1975. This paper can be considered as a status report of the development of ISO standards for garment sizing systems. The author, with the Clothing Manufacturers' Federation of the United Kingdom, presents not only the progress of developing the international sizing standards but also his viewpoints. The standard effort was started in 1970. The effort begun with the developing of standard methods of designating the size of garment. Three working groups were formed. They are men's and boys' wear group, women's and girls' wear group, and infants' wear group. The paper lists control dimensions that are used to designate the size of garments. Proposed methods of indicating sizes using pictograms are also described in the paper. 6 Green, Mary E., “An Application of U.S. Army Women's Anthropometric Data to the Derivation of Hypothetical Sizing/Tariffing Systems,” Clothing Research Journal, vol. 9, pp. 16-32, 1981. generated in the U.S. Army women's 1977 anthropometric survey yielded interpretable factors for upper torso, lower torso, and whole torso segments. Applied in a six-step process for deriving hypothetical sizing/tariffing systems, the factors identify the likely key dimensions (step 2) of: upper torso-front waist length and shoulder breadth; lower torso-crotch height and hip circumference; whole torso-bust circumference and crotch height. On-going work on further applications of the process are described briefly.
 * New developments using artificial intelligence and the computer can effect changes in the
 * The study presents a method for finding the lengths of the bones of the arm and thigh in selected
 * Factor analysis of selected sets of body measurements from a reduced battery of 47 variables

Reference: A Bibliography on Apparel Sizing and Related Issues- [www.fashion-networks.com] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.63.79.50 (talk) 09:25, 17 December 2008 (UTC)