But as other countries – namely Vietnam and Cambodia – rise in hopes of seizing its industry role, China’s growth rate has finally slowed down. This change is now the subject of the third and latest issue of FIBER, a bi-annual online magazine created by the University of Delaware’s Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, while funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Although China is the world’s largest supplier of apparel items, accounting for more than half of U.S. apparel imports, we see China’s economic growth impacting its competitiveness in the textiles and apparel sector,” said Dr. Hye-Shin Kim, project director and editor, in the issue’s introduction.

The latest issue brings up other important considerations about its future in sourcing:

• Since it became the largest apparel exporter in 1994, China experienced its first single-digit growth of 1.3 percent from January to September 2008, which follows a 23 percent growth during the same months in 2007. “Even without trade restrictions, U.S.-China textile and apparel trade in 2009 will probably see one of the lowest growth rates in the decade,” said Sheng Lu, doctoral student at the University of Michigan’s Department of Textile and Apparel Management.
• For the past ten years, China has concentrated its textile and clothing production in five provinces and one city in the country’s east coast. However, due to increasing local labor costs, their facilities have been sourcing its workers from the midwest. As a result, U.S. customers could pay less, but for lower-quality products, said Dong Shen, associate professor of family and consumer sciences at California State University in Sacramento.
• Overall production costs are increasing as well, causing China to reconsider its role in the global fashion industry. “If foreign companies need to produce complicated, high-quality goods, China remains a good choice,” Shen said. In addition, prioritizing quality over quantity opens up opportunities for Chinese fashion designers and manufacturers, plus anyone willing to partner with them.

For more detailed findings, visit the magazine’s official website to view the latest issue.