The Garment industry, also known as the textile industry, is concerned with the manufacture of cloth and yarn as well as subsequent design or clothing manufacturing and distribution. Raw materials used in this industry are either natural or synthetic. Natural materials include cotton and silk while synthetic materials are manufactured in a chemical process in the laboratory through combination of polymers. The textile industry though very crucial since without it human beings would still be walking around in hides and skins, has been faced with numerous challenges not only in New York but even in other places across the world. The problems become even worse when the company is in a developing country. However, like it is observed in part of this paper, the textile industry has been very pivotal in some economies especially the in the BRIC countries where this industry has been the pillar of the countries’ economies. With this in mind, a little more focus without shifting eyes on the industry, doing all it partakes to make the industry stand can see the future of the textile industry grow bigger and bigger and being key in promoting the welfare of our economies. One of the reasons why the textile industry need not be overlooked is the numerous avenues for employment opportunities it creates. The industry creates a lot of job opportunities ranging from farmers to workers in the industry, designers and even models enjoy the benefits of the industry. When the industry is, therefore, handicapped, many people suffer especially those who only rely on the industry for a living. In this light then the cry of the textile industry should not only worry the owners of the industry but should also be a government concern. Why a government concern is the fact that when the industry stumbles into some trouble and has to lay off employees, these people will run with begging bowls to the government for a living.
One of the major challenges of the textile company is relocation. This comes after the industry is unable to thrive in its usual environment either for internal or external reasons. Some of the reasons that see the industry relocate are one competition, taxation, lack of manpower among others. Relocation of the industry has several disadvantages. First, the industry has to acquire whole new premises which may take time to organize like the original one. Secondly, the industry ultimately takes time to adjust to the community and thirdly which is one of the biggest challenge is the tendency to lose some of her employees. This is because some fail to relocate to the industry’s new location since they had already settled and began life in the company’s first location. Relocation of the textile industry is also a major blow to the local government since the much revenue that the government collects from the industry is now lost. This leaves the local government struggling on where to fill up the already gone revenue causing it to leap in the bid to provide social amenities to her citizens (Poethig).
Another common challenge seen by the textile industry is a labor shortage. As noted earlier, the industry is vast and, therefore, requires a lot of people to work in it. In places like New York and other parts of the world, people do not like working in the industry that has led the industry to having limited manpower. Additionally, there are few people skilled to work in the industry and thus lack of know-how has also caused a lack of manpower in the industry. There are negative effects associated with lack of manpower in such industries. First, production is impaired. The industry is not able to realize her goal in the amount of production estimated since there is no enough manpower to carry on with the production work. This causes production to be limited and does not suffice the industry as expected. Secondly, there is a tendency to overstretch and cause strain to the already existing manpower. When labor is overstretched, the workers are unable to be productive enough to realize the expectations of the industry. Moreover, others are unable to cope up with those working conditions and opt to quit causing more and more strain on the industry’s labor force (Fasanella).
In New York and other parts of the world, the challenge of failure to acquire government support is always rampant. How does the government give support to such industries? First the government creates a good working environment for the company such that it does not impose a lot of taxes on the raw materials and property of the company. When the government fails to honor that and does the completely opposite, it is termed as the government’s failure to offer support. Taxation is so high on the company that it ends up realizing meager profits or even running at a loss. The industry is unable to cope in such conditions and opts to close down, change its production and starts to deal with new products or relocate to areas where government policies are not hard on the company. In this respect, it is important that governments impose policies that are friendly to the garment industry. First the company helps the government to create employment to many people who otherwise would be an itch in the government’s ear asking for provision of food and shelter. Secondly, the government would also not wish to see the industry relocate to other places because the industry is a heavy source of revenue to the government (Smith, and Comyn).
Another major challenge facing textile industry in New York and other parts of the world is the lack of raw materials. It is a common phenomenon that the company lacks to acquire raw materials one due to its limited resources and secondly; there are no enough farmers to provide the required amount of raw materials. In developing countries, production of raw materials is done by small scale farmers who have no adequate resources to produce adequate cotton that satisfies the desired quality. This is a major stumbling block ailing the industry.
Lastly on challenges facing the garment industry, is the expenses incurred in the lease. Some of the equipment, machinery and property such as land that the textile industry uses is given to them as lease (The Editor). Since the company leases the property for a considerable log time, the garment industry has to constantly pay the lease expenses, and much of its profits are used to settle these expenses. This affects the company in a couple of dimensions first the company is unable to expand since there is little left to make it do so. Secondly, the company is unable to increase more labor due to insufficient funds to pay them. All these make the company lag behind (IRS).
The textile industry has been the fulcrum of the economies of the BRIC countries. According to an article in the cited website (Sinha), the BRIC countries provide all types of textiles to seven billion people across the world. In Brazil for instance, the textile as well as apparel industry take part in the Brazilian GNP with amounts of 4.1% and 17.2% (Sinha). This implies that the industry is of great economic relevance to Brazil. The socio-economic groups B and A in Brazil consume about fifty seven per cent of Brazilian apparel as group c consumes thirty one percent. Seventy three per cent of the apparel consumption is used in the one hundred and fifty cities in the country. Consumers between thirty to forty years spend most of their cash on apparel. They prefer to shop in single brand stores that make twenty seven per cent, multi brand stores tallying to twenty nine percent and department stores that constitute thirty seven per cent. Other countries like China and India realize more returns from the textile industry than Brazil. India for instance has textile industry as the second largest contributor to her economy behind agriculture. The textile industry provides employment to both skilled and unskilled labor. It offers employment to about thirty five million people. Additionally, other 54.85 million people in India find employment in the activities allied to the textile industry. As per the year 2010, total export shares of textiles in India were 11% according to the Ministry of Textiles. The strength of this industry is drawn from the massive production of a wide range of yarns and fibers, cotton, silk, wool, jute and synthetic fiber which include nylon, viscose, acrylic and polyester among others. In China, the industry is subdivided into the following: dyeing and printing fine processing, chemical fiber, cotton, fine processing and wool dyeing, silk processing, linen textiles, woven and knitted manufacture and finished textile manufacture. Being the largest exporter of clothes and textiles in the world, the textile industry in China contributes a lot of to her economy. For instance, in the year 2011, the textile industry contributed to 7.1% of the country’s GDP. Textile industry has two major benefits in China. First, it creates an avenue for employment and second it is significant in China’s foreign trade (China Research and Intelligence Co. Ltd).
So far it is evident that the textile industry is very pivotal to the economies of the BRIC. Most clear about the industry is that it is vast providing the citizens of the concerned country with employment opportunities. The industries have also been heavy sources of revenue to the government. On the other hand, the challenges facing the industry are rampant and almost common across the countries that have invested in the textile industry. Since this industry is so key both internationally and locally, governments within the countries that deal with the textile industry should not shift their eyes on safeguarding this industry. They can be on the forefront to see the industry rise to achieve its goal through the provision of favorable taxation policies to the industries. The challenge of the labor force can be curbed if the industries take it their own initiative to train their own workers. The company can also avoid lease expenses by purchasing their own property.
On the future of the garment Industry, the company should make proper use and exploitation of the emerging technology. This will increase productivity and deal with the challenge of limited labor force to a great extent, owing to the fact that the new technology comes with replacing some people. Further, the use of emerging technology will help the industry to produce better quality products and increase efficiency and effectiveness of the processes involved. Textile industry holds a bright future not only for BRIC countries but also for other countries wishing to grow in this industry. However, the stakeholders must be ready to fight the challenges facing the industry and work towards eliminating them.
Works Cited
Smith, , Belinda and Smith Comyn. "New York - Garment Industry Development Corporation." 10 May 2006. lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au. http://lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites/Web/13289/ezine/year_2006/may_jun/skill_ecosystem_garment.htm. 18 June 2014.
China Research and Intelligence Co. Ltd. Research Report on China's Textile Industry, 2012. 10 July 2012. http://www.marketresearch.com/China-Research-and-Intelligence-Co-Ltd-v3627/Research-China-Textile-7058589/. 18 June 2014.
Fasanella, Kathleen . Labor shortage? 27 March 2007. http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/labor_shortage/. 18 June 2014.
IRS. Deducting Rent and Lease Expenses. 14 February 2007. http://www.irs.gov/uac/Deducting-Rent-and-Lease-Expenses. 18 June 2014.
Poethig, Richard Paul. "www.onthesidewalksofnewyork.com." 24 February 2014. The Garment Industry. http://www.onthesidewalksofnewyork.com/blog/tag/the-garment-industry/. 18 June 2014.
Sinha, Arvind . Scenarios in BRICS regions and Textile potential. 2 September 2013. http://www.textileassociationindia.org/scenarios-in-BRICS-region-and-textile-potential. 18 June 2014.
The Editor. "Operating versus Capital Leases." 23 April 2009. pages.stern.nyu.edu. http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/AccPrimer/lease.htm. 18 June 2014.
