Textiles and Apparel

Providing over 1.4 million jobs, America’s textiles and apparel enterprises remain a critical part of the national economy. Forces of change—primarily technology and international competition—have gathered strength for a generation, forcing the industry through its most profound transformation since the industrial revolution. Such change has affected the nature of products produced; how they are produced; how they are marketed; the structure, scale, and scope of the enterprises producing them; and the nature of jobs created directly and indirectly by the industry.

Historically, the United States is one of the few nations that has left its markets largely open to foreign sales of textiles and apparel; also, one of the few that paid little attention to the research needs of the domestic industry. Surging textiles and apparel imports during the last two decades have resulted in substantial downsizing and consolidation within the industry.

Figure 1

U.S. Textile and Apparel Trade, 1970-1998 (Millions of 1998 dollars)
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration

For more detail of above graphic

Once one of the more low-technology and labor-intensive industry sectors, apparel and especially textiles have seen automation become a reality in an increasing number of its processes. As production becomes automated, labor accounts for a smaller proportion of total costs. Indeed, wages and salaries as a share of total costs have declined in recent years; not to mention total employment in both textiles and apparel. Within a restructured industry, such factors as the cost of capital, the availability of skilled labor to maintain high-technology equipment, the ready availability of low-cost and high-quality raw materials, and the proximity of and access to markets have taken on greater importance.

Definition of Textile and Apparel Industries

This industry report uses industry definitions and concepts that underlie the U.S. government's Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In the SIC system, both textiles (SIC 22) and apparel (SIC 23) are major industries, two of twenty such industries that form the manufacturing sector. Textiles and apparel are, of course, distinct industries with unique characteristics and problems. Both industries are relatively fragmented, but textile manufacturers have generally been larger and more capital-intensive than small, labor-intensive apparel firms.

The entire textile and apparel industry includes enterprises in at least 54 four-digit standard industrial classification codes. In addition, there are nonmanufacturing sectors totally dependent on textile and apparel manufacturing—most notably wholesalers and retailers.

Figure 2

Employment in U.S. Textiles and Apparel Industries, 1969-1997
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

For more detail of above graphic

According to the Standard Industrial Classification, textile has nine separate textile mill products subsectors (three-digit) and 23 market segments (four-digit) defined by broad product categories. Each of the 6,134 textile establishments operating in the United States was placed in one of these nine industry subsectors:

• Broadwoven fabric mills, cotton (SIC 221);
• Broadwoven fabric mills, manmade fiber and silk (SIC 222);
• Broadwoven fabric mills, wool, including dying and finishing (SIC 223);
• Narrow fabric and other smallwares mills: cotton, wool, silk, and manmade fiber (SIC 224);
• Knitting mills (SIC 225)—including knit women’s full-length and knee-length hosiery, socks, outerwear, underwear and nightwear, weft (circular) fabrics, lace and warp (flat) knit fabrics, and knitting gloves and other ;
• Dyeing and finishing textiles, except wool fabrics and knit goods (SIC 226)—including finishers of cotton broadwoven fabrics and finishers of broadwoven fabrics of manmade fiber and silk;
• Carpets and rugs (SIC 227);
• Yarn and thread mills (SIC 228); and
• Miscellaneous textile mills (SIC 229)—including non-rubberized coated fabrics, tire cord and fabrics, nonwoven fabrics, cordage and twine, and other textile goods such as linen, jute, gelt, padding and upholstery filling and processed waste and recovered fibers.

According to the Standard Industrial Classification, apparel has nine separate apparel and other finished products subsectors and 31 market segments defined by broad product categories. Each of the 23,345 apparel establishments operating in the United States in 1997 was placed in one of these nine industry subsectors:

• Men’s and boys’ suits, coats, and overcoats (SIC 231);
• Men’s and boys’ furnishings, work clothing, and allied garments (SIC 232)—including shirts, underwear and nightwear, neckwear, trousers and pants, and work clothing;
• Women’s, misses’ and juniors’ outerwear (SIC 233)—including blouses and shires, dresses, suits, skirts, and coats;
• Women’s, misses’, children’s, and infants’ undergarments (SIC 234)—including underwear and nightwear, brassieres, girdles and allied garments;
• Hats, caps, and millinery (SIC 235);
• Women’s, misses’ children’s, and infants’ outerwear (SIC 236)—including dresses, blouses, and shirts;
• Fur goods (SIC 237);
• Miscellaneous apparel and accessories (SIC 238)—including dress and work gloves, robes and dressing gowns, waterproof outerwear, leather and sheep clothing, apparel belts, suspenders, garters, handkerchiefs, and other apparel; and
• Miscellaneous fabricated textile products (SIC 239)—including curtains and draperies, house furnishings, textile bags, canvas and related products, pleating and decorative stitching, automotive trimmings, Schiffli machine embroideries, and other fabricated textile products.

The various sectors of this textile-apparel industry complex compete in a variety of markets, ranging from the trade of cotton on exchange markets to the wholesale and retail distribution of textile and apparel goods. All of these markets have become global in nature. Some, such as textile mill products, are being increasingly integrated. Others, primarily apparel, are still fundamentally a sector of small employers with limited production variety.

Traditionally, the textiles-apparel industry has been horizontally structured with the manufacture of cloth and the manufacture of clothing separate and distinct. The flow sequence began with fiber (textile) producers supplying raw material to yarn manufacturing plants, which in turn sold yarn to weaving and knitting facilities. Manufactured fabric was then sold to a fabric finisher, and then sold to the garment manufacturer. Textile converters and jobbers helped oversee the movement of products from one processor to another, supplying a finished apparel product to cutters and/or retailers and maintaining supplies for spot markets. Inefficiencies were imbedded within this flow sequence, making rapid response to market needs very difficult.

In many ways, each of the textiles-apparel industry segments is unique in business structure, management style, history and business culture, and technology. Together, the industry segments share a common problem: finding the means to prosper in an increasingly global competitive environment by through technological improvements and restructuring. The large-scale, mass production methods that once characterized the industry is in the past simply because it no longer ensures future competitiveness.

Today, the textiles and apparel market is increasingly global operating in a highly competitive market, requiring specialization and targeting market niches. The industry has restructured from one of many small firms to one of few large integrated firms. More significant is the array of new production and control technologies, controlled through a "quick response" network that effectively reduces the distance between producers and retailers. Technological advancements is seen by industry trade groups as the key to increased competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Current Status

In 1998, the combined Washington textiles and apparel industry employed 8,850 workers; representing about 2 percent of the state’s manufacturing workforce. Growth in the number of textiles and apparel industry establishments in Washington has been steady; between 1981 and 1998, the average annual growth in establishments has been 8.2 percent, with miscellaneous apparel and accessories and miscellaneous fabricated textile products capturing the lion’s share of the industry’s growth. Textiles growth, in general, has been modest; virtually all of the growth in establishments has come from apparel.

Figure 3

Number of Establishments in Washington Textile and Apparel Industries, 1981-1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department

For more detail of above graphic

The current employment picture in Washington textiles and apparel has modestly changed since the 1980s. Although year-to-year changes have been erratic, textiles has only added around 70 net employees between 1981 and 1998. Most of these net textiles employees were in miscellaneous textile goods subsector (SIC 229). During the same period, apparel added about 2,100 net workers for an average annual growth rate of 2.2 percent. Virtually all of the added employees were in women’s and misses’outerwear (SIC 233), miscellaneous apparel and accessories (SIC 238), and miscellaneous fabricated textile products (SIC 239). Other subsectors, notably broadwoven fabric mills, wool (SIC 223), knitting mills (SIC 225), men’s and boys’ furnishings (SIC 232), and girls’, children’s, and infants’ outerwear (SIC 236), lost employment in recent years.

Figure 4

Employment in Washington Textiles & Apparel Industries, 1981-1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department

For more detail of above graphic

Key factors that affect the demand for many textiles and apparel subsectors include health of end-use markets, growth in the overall economy and consumer spending, and trends in foreign trade. A board range of textile products are used in the production of apparel, home furnishings, and industrial products. Carpets and rugs, for instance follow the economic fundamentals that drive demand. Homebuilding and automobile production are the two major sources of demand for carpets and rugs. Key variables to watch in analyzing market trends for this subsector are consumer spending and income and interest rates. Most apparel markets are affected by trends in consumer spending, overall growth in the national economy, demographics, and foreign trade.

Textiles and apparel in Washington are largely composed of small companies that manufacture various textiles and apparel products. About 51 percent of all textiles workers are found in establishments with 100 or more employees, compared with 45 percent of all apparel workers and 60 percent of all state nonfarm workers.

Figure 5

Size of Establishments of Washington Textiles and Apparel Industries, 1998
Source: Washington Employment Security Department

For more detail of above graphic

In 1998, average covered wages for textiles and apparel workers was $34,020 and $20,411 respectively. Textiles workers earned slightly more that the statewide nonfarm covered wage. Apparel workers rank last in wages and salaries among all manufacturing workers and their annual covered wages are forty percent lower than the statewide nonfarm average. While textiles workers have enjoyed substantial wage growth between 1981 and 1998 (with average annual real—without inflation—of 4.4 percent), apparel workers pay has barely kept pace with inflation (0.5 percent real growth per year).

Table 1

Real Average Wages for Washington Covered Textiles and Apparel Industries Workers, 1981-1998 (1998 dollars)
Sources: Washington Employment Security Department,
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

The distribution of hourly wages for textiles and apparel is dissimilar to the state, with a pronounced disposition toward lower hourly wages. More than half of all workers in both textiles and apparel earn $12 or less per hour, compared with 41 percent of all nonfarm workers in the state. More than two-thirds of all apparel workers earn less than $10 per hour.

Figure 6

Hourly Wages for Washington Textile & Apparel Workers, 1997
Source: Washington Employment Security Department

For more detail of above graphic

The labor force in both the textiles and apparel sectors are dominated by operatives and laborers. Common textiles and apparel occupations within this group are machinists, and equipment operators. Administrative and clerical occupations are also important in both these industries.

Table 2

Occupational Profile of Textiles and Apparel Workers in Washington,
1998 and 2008
Source: Washington Employment Security Department

Contribution of Textiles & Apparel Industries to the Washington Economy

Compared to the nation, the relative importance of both textiles and apparel to the Washington economy is low. Since 1977, the index of specialization for Washington textiles and apparel has remained well below 0.5 and 0.15, respectively (an index of 1.0 signals the same importance of an industry for Washington as for the U.S.).

Although most textiles and apparel manufacturers in Washington service regional and domestic markets, an increasing share of production is being exported to foreign customers. In 1998, textile and apparel foreign exports from Washington totaled $76.2 million. An estimated one-fourth of all textile and apparel workers are supported by foreign exports.

Figure 7

Index of Specialization for Washington Textiles & Apparel Industries,
1977-1997
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross State Product series.

For more detail of above graphic

Outlook

Textiles and apparel industries have underperformed the state economy during this decade. Combined employment in these two sectors has risen at a lackluster 1.9 percent average annual pace since 1981, significantly less than total nonfarm employment (3.4 percent). Continued global competition for textiles and apparel markets are expected to spur changes in the domestic industries for the next decade. The American Textile Partnership (AMTEX) is working to link textile mills, apparel manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers in an electronic network to respond more efficiently to changing consumer spending patterns; hence, to remain competitive within the global marketplace. Industry experts forecast that between 1999 and 2006, global sales of most textiles and apparel will increase between 2-3 percent a year. The result of this outlook is modest expansion within the Washington textiles and apparel industries. By the year 2020, textile and apparel products manufacturers are forecast to employ a combined 10,310 workers, an average annual growth rate (2000-2020) of 0.7 percent. The growth sector in these two industries is miscellaneous fabricated textile products with an average annual increase of 3.3 percent.

Figure 8

Washington Textiles and Apparel Wage & Salary Employment Forecast, 2000-2020
Sources: Washington Office of Financial Management, Washington Employment Security Department

For more detail of above graphic

RETURN to the Industry Profiles

Word 98 version