EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Competitive Dynamics of Southern California's Clothing Industry: The Widening Global Connection and its Local Ramifications

Allen Scott

Urban Studies, 2002, vol. 39, issue 8, 1287-1306

Abstract: A general outline of the functional and spatial characteristics of the clothing industry in Southern California is sketched out. Two important trends are noted: the increasing design- and knowledge-intensive structure of the industry; and, the marked increase in off-shore sub-contracting by local manufacturers that has occurred in recent years. The predicaments and promises of this situation are explored. Will the industry simply continue to lose its employment base in the region? Will it succeed in making the transition to the status of a major world centre of fashion? It is argued that the southern California clothing industry is potentially capable of rising to the latter challenge, although it remains strongly overshadowed by the New York industry in terms of both fashion significance and commercial reach, and it also retains strong elements of its traditional underbelly of sweatshops. It is further argued that considerable effort needs to be invested in building social infrastructures to reinforce current positive trends in the industry. Given the right kinds of private and public response, it is submitted that Southern California is capable of becoming an international fashion centre on a par with New York, Paris, London or Milan.

Date: 2002
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980220142646 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:8:p:1287-1306

DOI: 10.1080/00420980220142646

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-31
Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:39:y:2002:i:8:p:1287-1306