Textile and Apparel Industries

What Factors Shape Textile and Apparel Regional Trade Patterns?

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Abstract

While textile and apparel (T&A) are known as a global sector, T&A trade remains largely regional-based. This study aims to explore the T&A regional trade patterns and their affecting factors, focusing on three primary T&A regional trade blocs in the world: Asia, EU, and the Western Hemisphere (WH). The panel regression results show that importing more apparel from trading partners in the same region will promote regional trade for textiles. Also, the capacity to make a greater variety of textile products in the region will expand the regional trade for textiles.Further, the results show that Asian countries have been building a more integrated T&A regional supply chain than their counterparts in the EU and WH. The findings fulfill a critical research gap and significantly enhance our understanding of the nature of T&A trade and its supply chains in today’s world economy.

Keywords: textile and apparel trade, regional supply chain, tariff, free trade agreement

How to Cite:

Lu, S., (2022) “What Factors Shape Textile and Apparel Regional Trade Patterns?”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 78(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.13325