Letters - January 2005

To our article last month on the demise of quotas, UniformMarket received the following response:

Dear Editor

It may be comforting to read Abernathy and Weil's assurance that the

end of MFA quotas will not be an apocalypse for American apparel and

textile production, but the data cited are misleading and similar

assurances have been wrong before.

They say that 'last year" Mexico and the Caribbean and Central

America sent $16 billion in apparel to the US, while China sent only $8

billion. In fact, in 2003 China exported over $9 billion of apparel

to the US (according to the Office of Textiles and Apparel:

http://www.otexa.ita.doc.gov/tbrimp.htm ) while Hong Kong exported

another $3.9 billion. The addition would yield $14 billion; even if

only 50% of Hong Kong's flow is counted (my research estimates about

that amount of HK clothing is transshipped), China exported $11

billion in apparel to the US. The authors note Wal-Mart’s quick

turn-around computerized inventory system, as an example of the

virtues of proximity: Wal-Mart is China's Biggest customer and vice versa.

Abernathy and Weil have been wrong on this point before. In their

book A Stitch In Time they argued that the new inventory systems

would save American jobs in apparel. The industry lost 50,000 jobs a year

in the next four years after their book came out.

Robert J.S. Ross, PhD
Professor of Sociology
Director, International Studies Stream
Clark University
Worcester, MA