Get Connected: E-Applications in Textile and Closing Sector

Familiarity with e-facilitated trade is becoming a prerequisite for attracting large buyers in the textile and clothing (T&C) sector. In order to benefit most from the quota phase-out and to increasingly shorten lead times and reduce expensive inventories, larger buyers are exploring ways to electronically connect the entire value chain, including sourcing of fabrics and accessories, garment manufacturing and sales to the final customer. Three major developments can be observed: Key information technologies are changing trade in T&C. Many developing country producers are not aware of ongoing changes and the implications for participation in global buyer-driven value chains in T&C. E-applications are not yet regarded as an enabling technology for survival in the post-quota era. One key post-quota survival element will be the capability to adopt e-applications. Major international buyers are shifting to new ways of buying, and developing country exporters have adapt. As quantity will no longer be a restriction, sourcing requirements and patters are changing. Major economic gains could be achieved by applying new technologies in linking the whole T&C supply chain. This goes hand in hand with an increased demand for a service orientation. Effective utilization of e-applications is becoming an increasingly important determinant of future competitiveness, as it will increase efficiency, reduce costs and enable quick response. These developments pose new challenges for garment manufacturers in developing countries, which need to be aware of the new buyer requirements. Moreover, garment manufacturers need to find innovative solutions for fulfilling these new requirements, as they will require a more complex form of competitiveness that 'only manufacturing good quality garments. This book addresses these challenges by covering market entry requirements and by offering an outlook of future e-applications in the T&C industry. It sets out how developing country producers could prepare to successfully apply new e-applications and secure post-quota export. It elaborates principles to guide exporters in adopting e-applications and secure post-quota exports. It elaborates principles to guide exporters in adopting e-applications so as to develop fruitful long-term relationships with major buyers. Overall, the book aims to create knowledge among developing country T&C exports, so that they will: View e-business in its broadest sense and not as an alternative term for 'on-line selling'; Understand now e-applications can increase efficiency, and reduce costs and lead-time; Recognize that e-applications are already widely used in the market to improve customer relationships, forming part of a larger approach to customer satisfaction; Learn from exporters in other developing countries that have already successfully found approaches to integrate their systems with those of customers/suppliers, opening up long-term perspectives. Finally directions of the T&C sector in their projected uses of technology (not production technology but technology to link the value chain) over the next three to five years are given.The International Trade Center's trade-related technical assistance approach for the clothing sector addresses ways for developing country manufacturers to achieve competitiveness in the post-quota era.