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Wen Wen Liu

Fashion Management Dissertation

Abstract

Since their creation in Genoa

1[you can add more info in your footnote like who created as if its intended for the reader not just as a footnoterequired by academia. In articles it normally offers more info],

jeans have embodied the iconography of rebellion andchange.

[refer: roland barthes mythologies, james Dean: rebel without a cause / Brando’s: the wild one / The cowboy… Jeans have enormous sociologicalconnections]

It is almost poetic now, hundreds of years since conception and at a time of great fluxin global trade, an Italian city – Florence, once again plays a significant role in preserving or developing the jean.

[promoted by the Americas i.e. lee and levis / don’t advertise for Italy do research!]

Following changes torules governing international trade, China potentially stands poised to become the largestglobal producer of jeans. However, in Florence, Zegna and designers such as Marithe andFrancsois Girbaud exhibit part of the spirit common to those jeans companies heading off China’s ascendancy (and probable

[if so state or make a footnote…. explaining not just a reference to nothing]

dominance) of production and supply of this fashion sector

. This study intends to provide an insight into thenature of this ascendancy: threat, opportunity or non-entity?

In illuminating this area, great store has been made of monitoring market development(through trade and industry press), requesting information directly from organizations such asthe China National Textile & Apparel Council, China Customs and The European UnionDelegation to the UK and applying leading theories and authoritative predictions. Informationcollected from these processes has been held up against available forecasts. Trends, wherethey appeared, have been noted and commented upon, final conclusions andrecommendations and notes and comments arrived at following these observations.

[who gives a shit – I don’t know what this means its purely about cost of production so if the so if the forecasts reveal something –a thesis topic- say what it is,don’t just say it as an empty background comment.]

In relation to importation into the EU of Jeans from China, revising the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) Quota System has thrown up evidence[this is the important stuff so don’tbluff it in the thesis statement say “can that

[SUMMARY DETAIL TO BE FILLED IN WHEN ICOMPLETE STUDY].

From the above it is easy to conclude that

[FILL DETAILS IN HERE]

Introduction

In the field of fashion management, the WTO Quota System is significant because followingits revision, for the clothing and textile sector and not just jeans producers and manufacturers,it is believed that

“……………

..the sourcing of low value-adding activities will increasingly go to low cost countries, with more aggressive retail strategies in the west and the emergence of new markets. New sourcing strategies are to be developed, requiring better supply chainmanagement together with a strong connection to technology. This challenges companies toidentify the best opportunities throughout the value chain globally and to think globally in amarket perspective.”

[Now you use the footnote correctly, after clarifying something]

Before this revision, Asia and in particular China had already challenged the EU to a largeextent within the fashion manufacturing sector. If not legally, then illegally through counterfeits[explaination required and evidence

(you mean the cheap copy)].

It became standard knowledge that theEU, home of many fashion houses which were key generators of employment, had beenhemorrhaging jobs to Asian countries.

In a recent report

, the

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and WorkingConditions (EFILWC)opined

[is that a word]

that with enlargement to the East and in conjunctionwith its states in the south, the EU was set to increase its 200 billion euro textile & clothingproduction capacity. This in an industry spread amongst approximately 230, 000 companiesand employing more than 2.7 million people, a figure that could possibly rise to between 3.3million and 7.3 million plus.

[what does this figure mean to the jeans industry?]

The same report states that “…... The share of the textiles and clothing sector, in terms of total manufacturing value added at EU level, amounts to roughly 4% and the share of total manufacturing employment level is around 7%” continuing to predict “ that the end of thequota system will result in a loss of 15% of the jobs in this sector in the United Kingdom aloneand 13% in Germany”.

The last figures are quoted in the report as reason enough to galvanise into action thoseconcerned with EU fashion management. If they fail to take note, recognise the threat fromthe abroad and identify their own unique strengths, weaknesses and competativeness, agood chance exists that when Chinese products replace other countries goods around theworld, this revision will do for the European Jeans and clothing industry what Japan andKorea

[and scandavia, germany etc. don’t make incorrect comparisons: the british car industry didn’t die because of competition alone but due to rising costsof production and collaborations with european firms]

have done for the British car industry

Are you pro- european here? Are youmaking a thesis or fighting a cause. Try writing a thesis starement like:

“

supposing liberalisation the WTO (export) quota system will increase economic growth in for the (Jean) textile industry: does this risk replacing Europeanproduction with new production monopoly in Asia”

This dissertation examines this danger and aims to explore the resultant changes that are or may occur within the EU Jeans production and supply chain. It also studies how thesechanges are perceived and managed by the fashion hierarchy and, reflecting the EFILWC’sreported concerns:

Forecasts the short, medium and long term developments that might take place in this sector as a result of the revision and the industry’s reaction to it

Outlines strategies for change

Reflects upon survival mechanisms and options for growth in the mid-term

In pursuing this aim, the dissertation argues that

[FILL IN DETAILS OF MAIN ARGUMENTOF THE DISSERTATION HERE].

This argument is effective because

[SET OUT DETAILS OF WHY THE DISSERTATIONHAS BEEN EFFECTIVE IN ILLUSTRTING THE AIM IT HAS]

and this has only beenpossible through

[FILL IN DETAILS REGARDING THE METHODOLOGY OF THEDISSERTATION THAT ENSURED ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN ILLUSTRATING ITS AIMS ASSTATED ABOVE]

[I don’t understand the above statements and disclaimers, it would be better to say “please wear these jeans at your own risk as we cant confirm where they wereproduced”]

Rationale

This dissertation investigates the revised WTO Quota System and its impact on the EU textiletrade with particular reference to the importation of Jeans from China.Sets out the foundations of the WTO, charting China’s accession to the WTO to the point of liberalization of the trade quotas between WTO states on 1

January 2005.It is worth noting that from 1948, international trade between states had been strictlyregulated firstly through a multilateral legal agreement and thereafter through a quota systemadministered by the WTO. Regulation sought to level the playing field of internationalcommerce by restricting the export strengths of more economically liberalized states in favour of lesser ones. However, regarding clothing, regulation adversely impacted on the lesser economically liberalized states by imposing export quotas on them. It is such imbalances thatthe WTO sought to address by the gradual removal of quotas to the point of eradication. TheEU’s perspective was that for textiles, this milestone was passed on 1

January 2005.

Because:

China’s textiles & apparel (inc Jeans ) exports accounted for $3.828 bill out of its total $64.99bill worldwide exports

the EU was its fourth largest export recipient

the EU’s imports of such Chinese textiles & apparel (Inc jeans) amounted to $1.759 bill.

(

Source: all info

China Textile and Apparel Exp. US $10.4 Billion in Jan. 2006, CNTAC

)

The total value of EU imports of textiles & apparel (inc. jeans), from all sources, was $[

FILLIN AMOUNT

] bill.

China was on the ascendant and less isolationist economically

the EU had firstly arrived at its perspective regarding unfettered access but then also beganviewing China’s penetration as threatThis became a significant matter for consideration by the apparel manufacture and retailsector.

Knowledge of China’s potential effect on the EU’s economy can be quite helpful in settingstrategic management objectives and deciding upon long-term strategy.

Although the initial research underlying this dissertation suggest a temporary curb toChina’s forward thrust, because of her sustained and almost daily march uniformly acrossseveral sectors in other economies, it is prudent to expect that China will resurge in thisfield sometime in the near future. With large capital reserves, access to textile rawmaterials from home and abroad, a larger work-force and cheaper manufacturing baseChina’s dominance of this global sector is a very real possibility. A fashion professional’ssurvival in such a ‘What If?’ scenario largely depends on their ability to envisage and planfor such dominance.