This timely book focuses on the upgrading of firms within the global garment industry, examining how garment manufacturers and retailers in different countries internationalize, develop their capabilities and enhance their sustainability. It highlights the important role the global garments industry plays in the socio-economic development and environmental outcomes of emerging economies.

Globalization of production has created opportunities and challenges for developing country producers and workers. This volume provides solutions-oriented approaches for promoting improved working conditions and labour rights in the apparel industry.

Advances in technology, combined with the ever-evolving needs of the global market, are having a strong impact on the textile and clothing sector. The global textile and clothing industry: Technological advances and future challenges provides an essential review of these changes, and considers their implications for future strategies concerning production and marketing of textile products.Beginning with a review of trends in the global textile industry, the book goes on to consider the impact of environmental regulation on future textile products and processes. Following this, the importance of innovation-driven textile research and development, and the role of strategic technology roadmapping are highlighted. Both the present structure and future adaptation of higher education courses in textile science are reviewed, before recent advances in textile manufacturing technology, including joining techniques, 3D body scanning and garment design and explored in depth. Finally, The global textile and clothing industry concludes by considering automating textile preforming technology for the mass production of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites.With its distinguished editor and international team of expert contributors, The global textile and clothing industry: Technological advances and future challenges is an essential guide to key challenges and developments in this industrial sector. - Comprehensively examines the implications of technological advancements and the evolving needs of the global market on the textile and clothing industry and considers their role on the future of textile manufacturing - The importance of innovation-driven textile research and development and the role of strategic technology roadmapping are thoroughly investigated - Recent advances in textile manufacturing technology, including joining techniques, 3D body scanning and garment design and explored in depth

The widespread prevalence of economically, socially, and environmentally unsustainable practices in global value chains is a pressing international challenge. The way to improve systems and practices in the complex networks that characterize contemporary production processes is not clear cut. Finding solutions requires innovation. This Element examines the structures of garment value chains and explores how innovation related to sustainability is taking place in these chains. Furthermore, it identifies barriers and opportunities for innovations to break through and stimulate industry-wide change.

This book analyzes the choices and constraints of management within the Bangladesh garment industry and how management negotiates these challenges to ensure the global garment supply chain is sustainable. Exploring the international South Asian garment industry and using middle management and the owners of Bangladeshi factories as a case study, the book assesses the limits and costs of globalization for Bangladesh, and outlines the challenges of the fast-fashion business model for the global market. It focusses on the changing dynamics of the entrepreneur class, how they manage factories and their experiences with Accord-Alliance, and the challenges of sustainability. Within these four broader themes, the author critically examines management strategies towards compliance and labour productivity, transnational governance, buyer–supplier relationships, and power dynamics. This book is the first to explore management’s perceptions of workers, buyers, and government through an analysis of four factories which demonstrate the role of mid-level management, how supervisors treat production workers, workers’ impact on innovation, welfare programmes as well as CSR policies, and the impact of COVID-19. Offering new perspectives on Bangladesh’s garment export industry, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of policy studies, labour studies, South and South-East Asian studies, development studies, international trade, and political science.

Politicians and businesses alike agree that something must be done about the environment, the question is what, how, when, and by whom? We ask, are we actually walking the talk?

This book argues that larger flaws in the global supply chain must first be addressed to change the way business is conducted to prevent factory owners from taking deadly risks to meet clients’ demands in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Using the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster as a departure point, and to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future, this book presents an interdisciplinary analysis to address the disaster which resulted in a radical change in the functioning of the garment industry. The chapters present innovative ways of thinking about solutions that go beyond third-party monitoring. They open up possibilities for a renewed engagement of international brands and buyers within the garment sector, a focus on direct worker empowerment using technology, the role of community-based movements, developing a model of change through enforceable contracts combined with workers movements, and a more productive and influential role for both factory owners and the government. This book makes key interventions and rethinks the approaches that have been taken until now and proposes suggestions for the way forward. It engages with international brands, the private sector, and civil society to strategize about the future of the industry and for those who depend on it for their livelihood. A much-needed review and evaluation of the many initiatives that have been set up in Bangladesh in the wake of Rana Plaza, this book is a valuable addition to academics in the fields of development studies, gender and women’s studies, human rights, poverty and practice, political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, and South Asian studies.