The future of the remaining U.S. domestic production industry. While little apparel manufacturing remains in this country, there is some and there are niches ** such as uniforms ** where there are significant competitive advantages to making products domestically.
Interestingly, particularly when it comes to professional uniforms, quality can make domestic manufacturing more cost effective. Companies who buy and launder their employees uniforms know not just how much the uniforms cost to buy, but how long they last and how easy they are to clean ** the fast food chains, for instance, require clothes that shed grease and stains quite easily in industrial laundries. They also know whether a pair of pants will start to look shabby after 30 wash cycles or if they will last for 60 cycles.
This means that a uniform buyer can do the analysis and determine that a product that costs, for argument s sake, 25 percent more up front will last twice as long as thus be in the long run less expensive. This isn t the sort of analysis the average consumer does ** think about your own experience. You probably have some retailers that you think have better quality goods, but it s unlikely you ever sat down and studied whether a pair of Gap jeans stands up to more wash cycles than a pair of Levi s.
Can you think of niches within the consumer apparel industry where domestic manufacturers have competitive advantages? Are there any reasons the retail and wholesale industry would want to protect a domestic industry?